Hana's Game: A SequelShipping Story
by JMHomon
Summary: Hugh and Rosa finally have time together to hang out as just friends like they used to, but Hugh's sister, Hana, has other plans. She sets it upon herself to get the two of them together using any means at her disposal. When subtlety fails to give her the results she wants, she turns to her secret weapon to do the job.
1. Chapter 1

Rosa raced down the streets of Aspertia City with great alacrity. She hadn't been able to come home since she left on her Pokémon journey. Now, her busy schedule has finally yielded enough to allow her to stay for the whole weekend. She had already been looking forward to this, but now, she found out something that made her the happiest girl in the world: her best friend Hugh was also back in town. They hadn't been able to spend any quality alone time together since Arceus-knows-how-long-ago. And now that they finally had the chance, Rosa wasn't about to let it slip through her fingers.

As she dashed up to the front door of her friend and rival's house, Rosa had to stop and collect herself. The last thing she needed was for her rival to think that she was desperate to be with him. He would surely take that the wrong way. Once she had composed herself, she knocked on the door and waited. Soon, the door was opened, revealing Rosa's best friend Hugh standing there. He smiled warmly when he saw her.

"Well, this is a surprise," he said, "I didn't expect to see you here, Rosa. You couldn't have called on the Xtranceiver or anything?"

"I wanted to surprise you, silly," Rosa told him, "I heard you were back in town, so I decided to come see you."

"And some homecoming this has been," her friend responded, "No sooner than I walk in the door, my folks go and stick me with babysitting duty."

As if on cue, Hugh's little sister Hana peeked out from behind her brother to see what was going on. Her faithful Liepard stood by her side as it always did. Once she recognized her brother's best friend, she immediately came forward and excitedly greeted her with a smile.

"Hi Rosa," she beamed, "Guess what: mommy and daddy are gone for the night! They said that they were going to a confer… uh, a confiri…"

"Conference," Hugh corrected.

"Oh right," Hana exclaimed, "They were going to a conference. They're going to be out all night, so me and big brother have the house all to ourselves. Why don't you come inside? Me and Liepard have something to show you!"

Before waiting for an answer, Hana darted back into the house with her faithful Liepard at her side, leaving Hugh and Rosa alone to talk.

"She never changes, does she?" he observed, "Anyway, I'm sorry things turned out like this. I know you wanted to spend some time together, but I don't think we can right now."

"Who says we can't?" Rosa asked, "Why don't I help you watch Hana for a while?"

Hugh stared at her. "Are you sure?" he asked her, "You know she's not going to be easy."

"All the more reason I should help," she answered, "It's nothing I haven't done before, you know. I used to babysit her all the time when you went out with your parents, remember? And besides, you'll need some help with dinner won't you? Since you're so hopeless in the kitchen, after all."

He smiled. "Well, when you put it like that," he began, "I guess I could use a hand. Why don't you come inside?"

Hugh led her inside to the place that had for so long been her second home. She hadn't been here in years, but it was just as she remembered it. Hana and Liepard were waiting for them in the living room.

"Check this out," she told them, "Liepard learned this really cool new move! Would you like to see it?"

"Sure," Rosa laughed, "Just as long as you don't break anything."

"Okay, watch this," Hana said getting into position, "Liepard, use Assist!"

With the command given, Liepard raised its right paw, forming a white ball of energy in front of it. Soon, vines shot out from the ball in the form of a Vine Whip attack. The vines quickly wrapped themselves around both Hugh and Rosa and tied them tightly together. Both of them turned red when they realized the position they were in, their bodies held very close to each other's.

"See?" Hana beamed, "I managed to call on big brother's Serperior's Vine Whip attack and use it as our own. Isn't that cool?"

"Uh, yeah, it's great," Hugh said nervously, "Now can you please untie us?"

The smile faded from Hana's face. "Untie you?"

She looked at Liepard, who looked back as if to say it didn't know how either.

"You don't know how?" Rosa asked her.

"I-I'll look it up!" she stammered, "I think I wrote it down somewhere. I'll go check!"

Before either of them could say anything, Hana left the two teenagers to go find her notes, leaving them all by themselves. They stood in awkward silence for several minutes as Hana still didn't come back. Eventually, Rosa decided to break the silence.

"You don't have to look so uncomfortable," she told her friend, "I'm sure you're enjoying this a lot more than I am."

"Well," Hugh smirked, "Your chest is making it kind of hard to breathe."

Rosa couldn't help but laugh. That's what she liked about him. Any other guy would have either been too nervous to articulate a full sentence or acted like a total perv and made her want to punch them. But Hugh was able to turn her games around and crack a few jokes with her and play the game too. He always knew the right things to say to make her laugh. Maybe this wasn't so bad of a position after all…

After they had finally sorted themselves out, Rosa went into the kitchen to start dinner while Hugh stayed behind to watch Hana. He was still thinking about what Rosa had said to him while they were tied up together. The truth was, he did enjoy it, but not for the reasons she was thinking of. He just liked being close to her like that. The problem was that he didn't understand why that was. They were only friends. He shouldn't be thinking about her like that. Still, she was the only girl that he ever really cared about. Could something really have changed between them? No, that couldn't be true. He knew her better than anyone. If anything had really changed, she would be the first to know. He took a pretzel from the bowl on the coffee table and started to munch on it.

"Hey big brother?" Hana asked him, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," he told her, popping the last of the pretzel in his mouth.

"When are you and Rosa going to get married?"

Hugh almost choked on the pretzel when she asked that. The sudden clatter of pots and pans from the kitchen told him Rosa had heard that too.

"Wh-where did you get that idea from?" he gasped once he regained his breath.

"Well, mommy told me," Hana explained, "That when a boy and a girl like each other very much, they get married. And since you and Rosa seem to like each other a lot, I figured that you were going to marry each other."

"It's not like that!" Hugh protested, "We don't like each other like that. We're just friends right now."

"But there have been many people who started out as just friends and then got married," she pointed out, "I saw things like that on TV. Why don't you two do that?"

"You shouldn't believe everything you see on TV," he told her, "We just want to stay friends right now. Besides, there are several things that we would have to do before we get married."

"Like what?" Hana asked.

Hugh paused as he tried to think of a response. "Well…" he began, "We would have to be dating first. We'd have to see if we were really able to be together like that. And there has to be a certain level of attraction before we can begin dating."

"But you two could begin dating and get married if you wanted to, right?"

He had no answer for that one. Fortunately, Rosa had come in at just the right time.

"We could," she began, "But first, he would have to work on his attitude a bit. I don't want to have my husband going to jail because he flew off the handle at the wrong person yet again."

Hugh smirked. "This coming from a girl who once beat down some guy for coming on too strong at the amusement park?"

"Fair enough," Rosa conceded.

"But don't you two love each other?" Hana asked, "If so, why don't you get married and start a family like mommy and daddy?"

Rosa smiled at her. "We do love each other," she explained, "But not quite in that way. Maybe someday it will happen, but not today. Now go on. Dinner will be ready in a few moments, so you'd better go wash up."

"Awwww!"

"Now Hana," she told her, "Don't be like that. All I'm asking is that you go wash your hands before dinner. If you're good, we can play a game after dinner if you'd like."

"Okay!" Hana exclaimed as she ran upstairs with Liepard. Rosa and Hugh were left to talk alone.

"She never seems to tire," he observed, "how do you manage to handle her so well?"

"I don't know," Rosa admitted, "I guess I'm just one of those people who are just naturally good at taking care of kids. My mom was a receptionist at a Pokémon Center, so maybe it's hereditary?"

"Well, either way," Hugh told her, "I know you'll make somebody one hell of a wife and mother someday."

She blushed when she heard that. "Alright now," she said, "You'd better get cleaned up yourself. I'll go ahead and get everything set for dinner while you go wash your hands too."

"Sheesh," he complained, "We're not even married yet, and you're already nagging me?"

"You'd better get used to it," Rosa giggled, "One day, some lucky girl is going to get her hands on you, and you'll have to put up with it for the rest of your life."

Hugh smiled at her, and left to get cleaned up. Rosa watched him go as his words continued to play over and over in her heart. 'You'll make somebody one hell of a wife and mother someday.' Did he really think that way of her? Even if he didn't, it still made her feel special that she could hear him say those words to her. She left to go set the table for dinner.

After dinner, Hugh and Rosa kept their promise and played a few games with Hana. They played games like Scrabble, Pictionary and Trouble, and Hana won every time. It was obvious that she had been practicing for this for a long time. Finally, Hana decided that the next game she wanted to play was Twister. While she set everything up, Hugh and Rosa got to talk a bit.

"You know," Rosa began, "You're doing a really good job of letting her win these games."

"That's just it," he answered, "I'm not."

"You're not?" she asked, "What do you mean you're not? I mean, how else is she beating the both of us so bad?"

"I don't know," Hugh admitted, "But I think something's up. How else would she be able to play "zinfandel" for 54 points? How does she even know what a zinfandel is?"

"You know, you may be on to something," Rosa agreed, "Maybe we've been underestimating her this whole time."

"I think it's time we took her down a peg," he suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," she agreed.

Once their alliance was formed, Hana called them back to play. They returned to find Hana sitting by the spinner instead of on the mat.

"I'll spin the spinner," she told them, "You two will play the game yourselves."

They stared at her for a while. "Are you sure about this?" Rosa asked, "I thought that you wanted to play this."

"It's okay," Hana answered, "I wanted to be the one spinning the spinner anyway. Now come on, let's play!"

They were a bit hesitant, but soon decided to give it a try. The game started out normal enough, but as it went on, Hugh and Rosa began to get into increasingly awkward positions. Eventually, they got to the point where Hugh was standing over Rosa as they were facing each other up close. They were both blushing as they tried to hold their position. As if things weren't awkward enough, Liepard snuck up behind them and clawed the back of Hugh's leg. He then slipped and landed on Rosa as they both fell down.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she groaned, "I'm fine."

He started to get up, but his hand slipped and landed right on Rosa's breast. They both stood there staring at his hand for about a second as they tried to process what just happened. Once they realized it, however, they both jumped back as if they had just been hit with a ThunderShock attack, both as red as humanly possible.

"How about best two out of three?" Hana asked them.

"Uh… no," Rosa answered a little shakily, "I think we're good."

"Okay," she said, "Then how about we play something else? I've got it, how about we play Truth or Dare?"

"I don't know about this," Hugh told her.

"It's easy!" Hana insisted, "Watch, I'll make this easy for you. Rosa, truth or dare?"

Not wanting to reveal anything that she had been thinking of recently, Rosa answered, "Dare."

"I dare you," Hana began, "To make out with big brother for two minutes."

Hugh and Rosa both looked at each other unsure of what to do.

"Truth," Rosa told Hana.

"You can't change your answer now," Hana responded.

"Well, then I guess you won," Hugh told her, "That was fun, what's next?"

"Well, if you two don't want to play that," she began, "You can play another game I read about called 'Seven Minutes in-'"

"OKAY," both of them interrupted, "Time for bed!"

They led a protesting Hana to the stairs trying to goad her to go back to her room. Eventually, they managed to convince her to go, along with Liepard, upstairs. Rosa and Hugh stayed behind as they tried to adjust themselves to what had just happened between them. When their eyes met, they both laughed nervously.

"That was really awkward," Rosa told him, "Why don't we just forget it ever happened?"

"Forget what?" Hugh asked.

She laughed. "Thank you Hugh," she said, "I'm so lucky to have a friend like you."

He smiled at her. He had always loved her laugh. It sounded so melodic to him that it was just the cutest thing he'd ever heard.

"You know," he began, "It's still early. Do you want to stay and watch a movie or something?"

"I'd love that," Rosa answered, "I'll make the popcorn, you go ahead and pick the movie. I'll be right back. Don't stop being so handsome."

Hugh watched her as she ducked into the kitchen. "It's official," he thought to himself, "Something has definitely changed between us."


	2. Chapter 2

Hana and Liepard went up to her room, but she didn't go to bed. Instead, she went straight to her bookshelf and perused its contents. She eventually found the one entitled "Legend of the Two Kings" and pulled it from the shelf. The secret door behind the bookcase opened and Hana and her Liepard stepped inside. They were in a small corridor with white tiles covering the room from ceiling to floor. At the end of the room was a door with a security keypad next to it. Hana walked up to the keypad, and punched in the seven-digit code to the door. She then placed her thumb on the thumbprint scanner, and opened her eye for the retinal scanner.

"Please state the password," a computerized voice told her.

"Roxie's music is the best music in the whole world." She said.

"Voice recognition confirmed," the voice said, "Welcome back Hana."

The door opened and Hana and Liepard walked in. Inside was a large surveillance operation with several monitors, computers and all things of that nature. Hana took her seat at the big chair in the center of the room as Liepard curled up at her feet.

"Qwerty," she began, "Show me what's going on in the living room on the main screen. We're picking up where we left off on Operation Rendezvous."

"As you wish Hana," the computer said.

The screen turned on, and Hugh and Rosa appeared on the screen. They were laughing, so Hugh must have said something funny.

"Thank you Hugh," Rosa said, "I'm so lucky to have a friend like you."

Hugh smiled at her. "You know," he began, "It's still early. Do you want to stay and watch a movie or something?"

"I'd love that," she answered, "I'll make the popcorn, you go ahead and pick the movie. I'll be right back. Don't stop being so handsome."

"A movie date," Hana observed, "That sounds like the perfect time for their relationship to bloom. Then again, I've been down this road before. Qwerty, factor in big brother's and Rosa's previous reaction to romantic situations, add the factor of the current environment, and calculate the probability of their relationship progressing into something more intimate."

"Calculating," Qwerty said, and after a short pause, reported "Given current and previous history, assuming the right side of a bell curve, the probability of an increase in romantic feelings would be minimal in the current environment."

"Fudge," she cursed, "What can we do to help tilt the scales in our favor?"

"May I suggest," the AI began, "Utilizing a third-party mole to change the environment around them to create a more romantic atmosphere to help push the two together?"

"Alright," she considered, "Factor this third party into the previous equation and calculate the probability then."

"Recalculating… In such an environment, probability would rise to 78.59%."

"Sounds like pretty good odds," she said, "But we'll need a Plan B. What if they were put into a position that would give the illusion that they had had a sexual experience with each other? Factor that in and calculate the probability."

"Recalculating… Such circumstances would raise probability by an additional 19.53%."

"Perfect," Hana said, "Then we will execute this plan at once. Qwerty, run a query on all Pokémon in inventory for one that knows both Sleep Powder and Vine Whip."

"Commencing search," Qwerty said, "Query results reveal three matches to your specifications, one matching perfectly."

"Show me," she said.

The database appeared over the screen, revealing the three Pokémon she had that knew the two moves she needed. She selected a Bellsprout which had its only moves being Vine Whip and Sleep Powder. The Poké Ball appeared on the arm of the chair. Liepard stood up and came close to Hana. She grabbed the charm on Liepard's collar and opened the secret compartment. She removed the ball containing the Pansage that was the real cause of Liepard's Assist calling on Vine Whip, and replaced the ball with Bellsprout. She placed Pansage on the arm of the chair, and it disappeared back into her Pokémon Storage System.

"Now then," she told the Cruel Pokémon, "I want you to go out there and do what you can to push those two together. I'll be giving you your instructions through your earpiece. Can I trust you to do this?"

Liepard mewed and left the room, heading straight for the living room. Hana sat back in her chair and watched the screen.

"Qwerty," she said, "Bring up the Lie-Cam."

Liepard reached the living room in no time. Rosa had already gone into the kitchen to make the popcorn while Hugh was busy trying to find a movie to watch with her. Hana was watching everything from her secret base.

"Alright," she said through Liepard's earpiece "First thing's first, we have to make sure big brother chooses the right movie. Go see what he's looking at."

Liepard walked up to Hugh and started rubbing against him. While he thought it was just a sign of affection, what Liepard was really doing was angling the hidden camera on its collar to give Hana a better look at the movie in his hand. When the Cruel Pokémon did that, Hana saw that it was an action movie.

"Are you kidding me?" she asked herself, "What does he think that's going to do? We can't let him pick that movie, Liepard. You have to stop him. You know which one to get."

While Liepard was rubbing on Hugh, it bared its claws behind his back and scratched him in the back. He let out a cry of pain and dropped the movie. In one fluid motion, Liepard pushed the action movie away, grabbed a new romantic movie off the shelf and offered it to Hugh.

"What?" he said, still a little cross from the sneak attack, "Why do you want me to watch that?"

"We don't have time for this," Hana said, "If he thinks about it too long, then he'll figure out our plan. Liepard, use Taunt."

Liepard gave Hugh a sly look and purred tauntingly as if to say, "You wouldn't know what to do with this anyway."

"What's that look supposed to mean?" he asked, "Are you trying to say something? If you're trying to call me insensitive, then you're dead wrong! I'll show you!"

He snatched the movie from Liepard and put it in the DVD player. Liepard started laughing silently to itself.

"Hook, line and sinker," Hana said, "I didn't think it would be that easy."

Then Hugh started to head for the recliner. Acting quickly, Liepard got there first and curled up on the chair.

"What now?" he asked, "Are you trying to piss me off?"

Liepard pretended to be asleep and to not hear him. Frustrated, Hugh sat down on the couch and waited. Rosa came into the room with a bowl of popcorn shortly after and sat next to him. He soon forgot about his frustration when he saw her.

"Hey, is everything all right?" Rosa asked, "I heard some shouting from the kitchen, but I couldn't hear what it was about."

"Oh, it was just Liepard being Liepard," he answered, "Nothing out of the ordinary."

Rosa smiled. From her secret base, Hana watched the whole thing with delight.

"This is going exactly according to plan," she said, "Now on to the next phase. I want you to go to the thermostat on the wall and turn the heat down to make things a bit chilly down there."

Liepard got off the chair and walked over to the thermostat. It used the curve of its tail to adjust the temperature to a chilly 58°.

"Perfect," Hana said, "Now while it cools down, go over to the light switch and dim the lights just a bit."

The Cruel Pokémon went to the light switch and dimmed the lights gradually enough that they didn't notice the change until the whole room had a much more romantic lighting.

"Great job," she told her Liepard, "Now for one last touch. Go to the stereo and put on some romantic music. This will be tricky because you'll have to raise the volume gradually so they don't notice you. Be careful out there."

With those words of encouragement, Liepard crept up to the stereo without Hugh and Rosa noticing. It turned the volume to zero, put in the mood music, and hit power. Then, it slowly and gradually turned up the volume while keeping an eye on the two teenagers watching for any sign of them being aware. Fortunately, they never noticed, and Liepard managed to get the music up to a volume that it was heard, but not interfering with the movie. Its job done, the Cruel Pokémon returned to its seat, climbed up, and curled into a comfortable ball. When he saw Liepard get back on the chair, Hugh finally noticed the atmosphere had changed.

"Hey," he told Rosa, "Did you turn down the lights?"

"Hm?" she asked, "Did I what?"

"Never mind," he answered, "It's nothing."

"Oh, okay," Rosa said, rubbing her arms.

"Are you all right?" Hugh asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she answered, "I'm just a little cold."

"Here," he said getting up, "I'll be right back."

He went over to the closet and grabbed a blanket. He came back, sat down next to Rosa, and wrapped the blanket around the both of them, putting his arms around her in the process.

"Better?" he asked.

She smiled, snuggled up closer to him, and answered, "Much better now."

Hana watched the two teenagers with elation. She squealed to herself as she watched her brilliant plan unfold.

"I can't believe how well this is working!" she gushed, "They'll be smooching in no time at all!"

"If I may," Qwerty interrupted, "While this may appear to be a successful turnout, I have examined their behavior patterns and cross-referenced them with those from previous similar encounters and found that the difference is minimal. It is highly improbable that this current situation is going to end with them "smooching" without further provocation. Might I suggest going to Plan B?"

"Oh, what do you know?" she told the computer, "We just need to give them a little more time."

An hour later, the movie was almost over, and Hugh and Rosa still haven't gotten any closer to kissing than they were when they first started cuddling with each other. Hana couldn't believe how much nothing was happening.

"Why aren't they doing anything?" she asked, "I set everything up perfectly, so why aren't they all over each other?"

"As I said…," Qwerty began.

"Oh can it, you glorified calculator!" Hana snapped, "We're going to Plan B."

"As you wish, Hana" the AI said.

Once Liepard had heard the words "Plan B", it woke up and got up from the recliner. It then walked away until it was standing behind the couch.

"It's time to initiate Plan B," Hana said, "Liepard, use Assist."

Liepard formed the white ball and released Sleep Powder from it. The sleep-inducing powder filled the air as Hugh and Rosa continued to watch the ending of the movie. It wasn't long before the two teenagers started to feel drowsy and drifted off to sleep.

"Good," Hana said once they were sound asleep, "Now time to set the scene. Use Assist again."

The Cruel Pokémon once again formed the white ball, this time calling on Vine Whip.

"Now," she began, "We're going to have to make this perfect to make this work. First thing's first, we'll need to take their clothes off. Should we have them naked? No, underwear should do just fine."

As Hana gave the instructions, Liepard used the Vine Whip to strip both Hugh and Rosa down to their underwear without waking either one. It then lay them down on the couch facing each other with Rosa on top. Then, it wrapped their arms around each other and moved their heads so that their lips were touching. Icing on the cake, Liepard moved Rosa's bra up off her breasts and pulled her panties down so that they were hanging off her left ankle. Its masterpiece complete, Liepard covered them with the blanket and climbed the stairs to rejoin its master.

"Perfect," Hana said, "Now we just wait for them to wake up the next morning, and they might be doing it for real. Until then, I'll be going to bed."

"Before you go Hana," Qwerty began, "Please record a new password for next time."

"Brother and Rosa will become a couple if it's the last thing I do."

With that, Hana left her secret base, and the door shut and locked behind her.


	3. Chapter 3

Rosa didn't want to wake up. She was having such a nice dream that she didn't want it to end. All she wanted was to relive it over and over again. But of course, the sunlight peeking through the window would have none of that. It would keep on saying, "Wake up, Rosa," until she finally gave in and got out of bed. That part had always bugged her about mornings; they always seem to come sooner whenever you're having a great dream.

Slowly, she became aware of her surroundings and she realized that she wasn't in her bed as she had thought. Not only that, she felt that there was someone else pressed up against her. To top it off, she could feel that she wasn't wearing any clothes. Rosa had a sneaking suspicion she knew what had happened. She hesitantly opened her eyes and saw that she was lying on top of Hugh with their arms wrapped around each other and their lips just millimeters from each other. Her face went pale when she realized what this must have meant.

"Uh oh," she thought to herself, "It wasn't just a dream."

Now, she had to think quickly about what she was going to do. Very slowly and very carefully, she got off of the couch and off of Hugh. She then quietly got dressed before trying to sneak out. As she neared the door, she heard Hugh start to stir, and began to panic. Trading stealth for speed, she ran out the door as fast as she could, slamming it in the process. Hugh woke with a start at the sound. He checked his surroundings, trying to figure out what happened.

"What the hell?" he said to himself, "What happened last night? And why am I half naked right now?"

He saw his clothes on the floor and put them on. As soon as he was dressed again, Hana ran down the stairs with Liepard. When she saw her brother there all by himself, she froze for just a split second. She quickly recovered before Hugh could notice and continued downstairs.

"You're up early big brother," she told him, "Is something going on?"

Hugh turned to face his sister. "Oh…, no, it's nothing," he lied.

"Did Rosa get off okay?" she asked.

When she realized how she had just phrased it, she had to bite her tongue hard to keep from laughing. She really hadn't meant it to be a double entendre; it was just a happy coincidence. Still, she couldn't afford to let on that she knew anything about what went on, or her cover would be blown. Fortunately, Hugh took no notice of her unfortunate choice of words.

"I… I think so," he answered, "Remind me, what time did she leave?"

"Leave?" Hana began, "I thought that she spent the night here."

Suddenly, a thought raced across his mind. Could they actually have done it? Did something like that really have happened last night? His memory was fuzzy, but for a second, Hugh thought that he remembered something like that happening. Was it real? Or was it just a dream? Either way, he had to find Rosa to talk about this.

"I-I'm going out," he told his sister, "Don't wait up for me."

With that, Hugh ran out the door. The second he was out of earshot, Hana started pulling her hair and yelling to herself.

"You have got to be kidding me!" she screamed, "I set everything up perfectly and THIS happens?! My plan should have been perfect, but because of these stupid sons of-"

"Miss Hana," Qwerty interrupted, "Your language."

It wasn't easy, but Hana managed to hold her tongue. She still regretted giving Qwerty free reign over the house because the AI always felt the need to babysit her. She let it go this time however.

"You told me," she began, "That they would be guaranteed to be together once they woke up."

"Actually," Qwerty answered, "I only assured the event of them 'being together' at 98.12% probability. This still leaves a 1.88% chance of their relationship taking a step in reverse."

Hana glared at the wristwatch that allowed her to talk to the computer. "You mean they might go in the opposite direction?!" she yelled, "You never told me that!"

"My apologies," it told her, "I had assumed that the odds were small enough to be negligible."

"Well great," Hana sighed, "Now what?"

"If I may," Qwerty began, "I would suggest enlisting the Delta Operative."

Hana considered this for a moment, and then said, "Fine. I guess we don't have a choice now. Contact her immediately and tell her to find brother ASAP."

Rosa stood on the front porch of her mom's house. The last thing that she wanted to do was walk into that house and try to explain what happened last night. She had been standing there for what felt like an hour trying to convince herself to go inside. Eventually, she managed to talk herself into it and opened the door slowly. She poked her head inside and looked around. Her mom was nowhere to be seen, so Rosa quietly crept inside. She had almost made her way to the stairs when she heard her mom call out from the kitchen.

"Rosa dear?" she asked, "Is that you?"

"Crap," Rosa thought to herself, "Busted."

Her mom then came out from the kitchen. She had a worried look on her face.

"Where have you been?" she asked, "Did you even come home last night?"

"Uh… yeah," Rosa lied, "I kinda stayed out at Hugh's place a little too late, but I did get back some time after you went to bed."

"Is that so?" her mom began, "Because I checked your room earlier this morning and you weren't there."

"Double crap," she thought.

"Is something wrong" her mom asked, "This isn't like you to be hiding anything."

Before Rosa could come up with a story, the doorbell rang.

"Oh, what now?" she thought.

She ran into the kitchen and hid from sight. Her mom just watched her with exasperation.

"Rosa," she called out.

"If that's Hugh," Rosa told her, "Tell him I'm not home."

Her mom just threw her hands in the air and went to open the door. Sure enough, Hugh was waiting on the other side. He seemed to be looking a little uncomfortable.

"Why hello Hugh," Rosa's mom began, "What brings you over here?"

"Hello Mrs. Perr," Hugh told her, "Um, I was just wondering… Is Rosa here?"

"Rosa?" she glanced over to where her daughter was hiding. Rosa was frantically gesturing that she wasn't here."

"I'm sorry," her mom said to Hugh, "You just missed her. She left just a little while ago."

"Well, do you know where she went?" he asked, "Or maybe when she'll be back?"

"I'm afraid not," she answered, "It seems that my daughter doesn't really tell me anything anymore, no matter how important it may be."

Rosa knew that that last sentence was meant more for her than it was for Hugh. She took a step back knowing that she was going to be in for it later.

"I see," Hugh said disappointedly, "Well, if you see her, tell her I need to talk to her. It's pretty important."

"I'll be sure to pass on the message," her mom assured him.

Hugh left and Rosa's mom closed the door behind him. She then turned her attention toward her daughter. Rosa looked as if she would much rather be in the electric chair than right here.

"Okay, what's going on?" her mom asked, "Are you two fighting now? Is that what this is about?"

"No, no," Rosa answered, "It's nothing like that."

"Uh huh," she said, "Then why are you avoiding him like this? Unless something… happened between you two."

"Oh triple crap," Rosa thought to herself, "Has she figured it out already? I'm screwed now. And that's how I got into this mess in the first place!"

"Why don't you just tell me the truth?" her mom continued, "You don't have to keep hiding from me. I'm your mother. I'm a lot more understanding than you give me credit for."

"…All right," she conceded, "Here's what happened: Hugh and I were at his house babysitting Hana since his parents were away. Once we put her to bed, we decided to watch a movie together. After that, I'm still not sure exactly what happened. I think that we might have… done it, but I just don't know."

Her mom seemed to be studying her as if trying to figure out if she was lying. Rosa felt like she was about to be sick. None of this would have happened if she'd only stayed home. Finally, her mom let out a sigh.

"All right," she said, "I suppose that's all right."

Rosa was stunned. "You mean you're not mad?" she asked.

"Well, I'm not thrilled," she answered, "But I suppose that there's nothing that I can do about it. I just have to come to terms with the fact that my little girl is grown up now. I'm sure that whatever happened, it happened because you felt that it was right. Just try not to go too crazy, okay?"

Rosa couldn't believe her ears. She had come in expecting the worst from her mom, and now, here she is telling her that she's an adult now. Was her mom really saying this?

"All right," her mom told her, "Now go upstairs and get ready. Breakfast will be ready in just a minute."

"Okay mom," she answered.

As her mom headed back into the kitchen to finish cooking, Rosa started to head upstairs to get ready for breakfast. About halfway up the stairs, she physically stopped and thought about what her mom had just told her and what that really meant.

"Did she really just give me her consent?" she asked herself.

After many hours of fruitless searching, Hugh finally stumbled into a nearby coffee shop. He must have scoured the entire city trying to find his friend. He had lost count of the times that he must have tried calling her Xtranceiver. Why wouldn't she just answer? The more he thought about it, the more he began to suspect the worst.

It wasn't until he finally got his coffee and sat down that he realized just how exhausted he was. He checked the time, and saw that it was already four. That meant that he had been searching for Rosa nonstop for over eight hours now. And yet, there wasn't as much as a sign of her. It was at this point that Hugh was starting to get worried; for the both of them.

As time went on, he couldn't help but notice that there was a woman on the other end of the shop who seemed to be staring at him. She appeared to be in her mid/late twenties. She was wearing a black suit with a black tie and short, dark hair cut into a bob. Her one splash of color came from a red rose that she wore over her right breast. Strange; why hadn't he ever seen her before?

After a while, the woman got up and walked over to where Hugh was sitting. She sat down next to him.

"Hello," she told him, "It's nice to finally meet you. My name's Delta. What's yours?"

Hugh didn't answer. For some reason, he didn't seem to trust this woman. Delta didn't seem deterred by this.

"You know," she continued, "I couldn't help but notice that you seem to be looking for someone. Are you supposed to be meeting them here?"

"Do you usually just walk up to people and butt into their business?" Hugh asked.

"I can't help it," Delta admitted, "I'm just a friendly person is all. So who is it? Maybe I can help you."

"If you must know," he sighed, "I'm looking for my friend Rosa. She's about my height and my age. She has long, brown hair tied up in two buns."

"You mean like her?" she asked pointing behind him.

Hugh whipped around to see where she was pointing. Sure enough, it really was Rosa. She was sitting by herself with a cup in her hands. She seemed to be uncomfortable, but she hadn't noticed that he was there yet.

"Yes," Hugh said to Delta, "That's her all right."

"Hey, she's kind of cute," Delta remarked, "Is she your girlfriend?"

"No," he told her, "It's not like that. We're just friends."

"Oh?" she began, "Why ever not? Are you a little shy? I thought that as pretty as she is that you would have made your move by now."

Hugh's face turned a brilliant shade of red as his thoughts turned once again to the events of last night. Delta took notice of this and smiled.

"You did do it, didn't you?" she beamed, "You dirty dog you!"

"SHHHH!" Hugh shushed, "We don't know that for sure. I'm hoping that we didn't, but it might have happened."

"Why is that?" Delta asked, "I would have thought that you would have wanted to do it with someone as attractive as her. Heck, I might want to do her myself."

Hugh just stared at Delta. "I'm going to walk away now," he told her.

He left her alone and went to talk to Rosa. She kept fidgeting with the cup in her hands as if trying to figure something out. She still didn't notice Hugh until he was standing by the table. She looked up and nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Oh, H-Hugh," she stuttered, "I-I didn't see you here."

"I've been looking everywhere for you," he told her, "Listen, can we talk? It's pretty important."

Rosa was about to say that she had to go so that she could get away, but her thoughts turned back to her mom. If she was an adult now, then she had to deal with the consequences on her own.

"O-of course," she answered, "Please, have a seat."

Hugh sat down next to her. Both of them sat for a moment in uncomfortable silence not knowing how to start. They both started to speak, but then stopped when they saw the other was about to say something.

"Uh, you first," Rosa said.

"Okay," Hugh began, "Well, I guess I'll just come out with it. About last night…"

Rosa's body visibly tensed at the mention of the events of last night. Hugh struggled to find the words to ask her about what happened. Finding nothing even remotely poetic, he decided to just get it over with.

"What… what happened last night?" he asked her, "My mind is a little hazy, and I have a sneaking suspicion that something must have happened between us. I mean, we didn't… Did we?"

Rosa wouldn't look him in the eye. Her silence confirmed Hugh's worst fears. He let out an exasperated sigh as he buried his face in his hands.

"Oh God," he sighed, "What have we done?"

"Look, I don't know for sure," Rosa admitted, "But judging from the position we were in when I woke up, the evidence seems pretty conclusive. I seem to remember having a dream like that, but the more I think about it, the more I think that it wasn't really a dream."

"Great," Hugh groaned, "Well, now what are we supposed to do?"

"I don't know," she said, her voice cracking, "I don't want this to ruin our friendship, but I don't think that I can just forget about something like this."

"I agree," he told her, "I don't want to lose you either. You're my closest friend, and I l – I mean, you're very important to me."

Hugh looked at his friend's face to see if she had caught his slip-up. She appeared to be too concerned with the matter at hand to notice what he had said. He composed himself and continued.

"So how about this," he began, "How about we… continue on as we were, acknowledging that whatever happened is in the past, and if something should come up as a result, we'll handle it together? Does that sound like a plan?"

Rosa thought about this for a second, and then said, "You know, I think that that's the best thing that we can do from here."

"Does that mean we're good?" Hugh asked.

For the first time that day, Rosa smiled. "Yeah," she told him, "I think we're good."

Now that that was over, both of them were finally able to relax. They had both had a long day, and now, a huge weight was lifted from their shoulders. Their friendship was now safe.

"So," Hugh began, "You had a dream about me?"

Rosa laughed in spite of herself. "Shut up," she smiled.

While Hugh and Rosa were enjoying each other's company once again, Delta was watching the whole exchange from her table.

"Well," she exclaimed, "I do believe that this worked out nicely. What do you think boss?"

"Excellent work, Delta," Hana said over Delta's earpiece, "That should undo the damage from last night's failure at least. But this battle is far from over."

"I couldn't agree more," Delta concurred, "This job is going to take every weapon I have in my arsenal. I think that I am going to really enjoy this one."


	4. Chapter 4

Over the next several days, Hugh and Rosa seemed to be closer than ever after this ordeal. A test revealed that, not only was Rosa not pregnant, but that both she and Hugh were still virgins; they had not done anything after all. This was certainly a relief for the both of them. Even knowing this, their relationship continued to grow as if they were a couple who had taken that step. The two of them were rarely apart from that point forward. And when they weren't together, they were usually on the Xtranceiver talking the night away. Things were looking very promising for them becoming a couple. Their relationship was moving a lot quicker than it had been before that day.

But it wasn't quick enough…

As far as Hana was concerned, they should already have been a couple by now. She was getting impatient. She wanted to have them madly in love right now, and it wasn't happening fast enough. She had never been the patient kind, but this was torture. Liepard watched its mistress as she paced the floor of her secret lair.

"What's taking so long?" she asked, "It's been almost two weeks, and they still haven't sealed the deal yet!"

"If I may," Qwerty began, "I would like to point out that their relationship has progressed in a positive direction by leaps and bounds since the start of this mission. Indeed, their relationship may already be considered by some to be, as most would put it, 'exclusive'."

"So you keep telling me," Hana responded, "But it's still not enough. Those two stubborn idiots should be a couple by now, but they still haven't said anything about it!"

"Miss Hana," the computer told her, "You must be patient. Something as delicate as this cannot be rushed. Patience is key to succeeding in this mission."

"Patience!" she scoffed, "All you ever talk about is how I have to have patience! Well, I can tell you to take your patience and –"

"Remember your language," Qwerty chastised.

Hana almost lost it. If it weren't for Liepard's sensing its mistress' frustrations and sidling up to comfort her, she would have certainly went off on the computer. Instead, she managed to contain her rage, count to ten, and calm herself down.

"All right," she said, "Where's Delta at on her end? She was supposed to be sticking close to brother and Rosa and pushing them together. Why hasn't she reported in yet?"

"I would like to point out," the AI began, "That based on her past job performance, we have no reason to doubt Delta's capabilities or her dedication to her job. However, I can contact her so that you may speak to her directly if you would like."

"Very well," Hana answered, "Do it."

Qwerty began the command, and within seconds, Delta's face appeared on the screen.

"Hey there boss," she said to Hana, "What joy do I owe to this pleasant surprise?"

"You know exactly why I'm calling," Hana answered, "I want a status update. How are things going on Operation Rendezvous?"

"Honey, relax," Delta told her, "This kind of thing takes time. You can't rush this sort of thing. This is a very delicate operation. One wrong move, and the results could be disastrous."

"I don't know," Hana began, "It sounds like you're just making excuses for not doing your job."

"Look, sweetheart," she explained, "How long have you known me? You know that I always take every job as serious as if my life were on the line. You have no need to worry about it not getting done. It just needs some time to work if we want to avoid disaster. Besides, where would be the fun in it being over so soon anyway? Have you ever seen a cat playing with a mouse? They won't kill it right away because they want to have a little fun with it first."

Hana studied her agent's face as if searching for some clue that she was lying.

"All right then," she said at last, "I guess I can trust you. But I rapidly lose my patience. Don't keep me waiting too long."

"Don't worry, honey," Delta assured her, "I promise that I will get them together if it is the last thing I do."

With that, Delta's image disappeared from the screen. Now that her mind was at relative ease, Hana sat down at her chair and relaxed. Liepard curled up right next to her.

"Well then," she said to herself, "I suppose that I can wait a little while longer for them to get together."

It was getting late. Rosa and Hugh had spent the entire day battling together at the Battle Subway. Between the two of them, they made a perfect combination and they haven't been beaten once that day. They were the king and queen of the Super Multi Train. Rosa wished that the two of them could have kept going, but she still had to get up early in the morning. Hugh still wanted to battle, so she had to leave him on his own. Before she left, however, she made him promise to call her before she went to bed. She wanted his voice to be the last thing she heard that day.

As Rosa was heading back to her hotel room, she was stopped by Delta, who had been waiting for her since she went in the Battle Subway.

"There you are," she exclaimed, "My name's Delta. I've been waiting for you."

"Um… do I know you?" Rosa asked.

"No," Delta admitted, "But I know all about you. Your name is Rosa, right? Your boyfriend told me all about you."

"Huh? What?" she stuttered, "You mean Hugh? He-he's not my boyfriend."

"He's not?" Delta asked, "Well, why not?"

"Um… well…" Rosa began.

"Is he important to you?" she continued, "Does he mean the world to you?"

"Well, uh…" she started, "…Kind of…"

"Does he feel the same way about you?" Delta asked, "Are you important to him too?"

"Well, I… I think so…" Rosa answered.

"Do you like spending time together?" Delta continued, "Like, more than you do with anyone else?"

"Um… yeah…" she said quietly.

"Do you spend a lot of time on the Xtranceiver?" she added, "Sometimes talking all night?"

"…Yeah…"

"Honey," Delta told her, "If that's not a boyfriend, then I don't know what is."

Rosa had no idea how to respond to that. She didn't know what to say to Delta about that one.

"…I…" she squeaked, "…I have to go…"

As Rosa tried to get away, Delta stopped her by saying one last thing.

"If I may," she called, "I just want to say that the two of you make a very cute couple."

Rosa stopped long enough to listen to what Delta had to say, but after that, she ran off. She didn't stop until she was back in her hotel room. Once she was inside, she leaned against the door and sank to the ground. Her breath was shaky as her nerves continued to get the better of her.

_The two of you make a very cute couple…_

Those words continued to ring in her head. Did Delta really mean that? Rosa stood up and went to the bathroom. She gazed at her reflection in the mirror, looking at how flushed her face was.

"Are my feelings really that obvious?" she asked herself.

The next day, Delta was following Rosa as she went about her day. Last night, she had planted the idea of her and Hugh being a couple in her mind, and she wanted to see if it had taken the desired effect. For Delta's money, it seems to have worked, because no matter where she went, Rosa seemed to be visibly distracted. Her mind always appeared to be elsewhere, as if she was thinking of something else. This is exactly what Delta wanted. She wanted to have Rosa thinking about being Hugh's girlfriend so that she might come to realize that they belong together. It was only a matter of time now until the final step would be made.

And yet, Delta knew that this was still a long ways away. She had been watching both Hugh and Rosa long enough to know that they were both being very obstinate about showing their true feelings toward one another. They still needed one last push to get to that point where they would be willing to confess; a catalyst of sorts that could act as the final straw to break the mule's back. What they really needed is to be in a situation where they could be alone in a date-like setting so that they could realize their feelings for one another at last. But how could she set up something like that without giving away her intent? She had to be careful. If she revealed herself, she could end up revealing Hana as well.

As Delta continued to try to plan her next move, she realized that she had lost sight of Rosa in Join Avenue. She should have realized where they were and kept a closer eye on her; Join Avenue was always such a crowded place that it was all too easy to lose someone in the hustle and bustle. Luckily for her, Delta had placed a tracking device on Rosa's bag earlier, so it was easy for her to find her again. She had found her checking the shops on the Avenue to see how well each one was running. By now, Rosa had made it to the last shop in the lineup: the raffle shop. Even after all this time, Rosa's mind still appeared to be elsewhere as she approached the shop.

"Morning, boss," the shopkeeper told her, "Is something wrong? You seem to be out of it today."

"Huh?" Rosa woke up, "Oh, sorry Brian. I've just got a lot on my mind right now."

"I see," Brian said, "Well, if that's the case, perhaps you'd like to try today's raffle game? We're running a special promotion today only, and we've got an amazing secret prize that you could win."

"A special promotion?" she asked, "What kind of promotion is it?"

"You see," he explained, "In addition to our regular raffle balls, we now have a special gold ball that, if you manage to draw it, will give you the special mystery prize. I can't say what the prize is unless you win it, but trust me when I say that it's a great one."

"Mystery prize?" Delta asked herself as she eavesdropped on this exchange, "What could this entail? And why do I get a bad feeling about this?"

"Well," Rosa told the shopkeeper, "I suppose it couldn't hurt to give it a try."

"No problem boss," Brian answered, "Cross your fingers and hope for the best."

The shopkeeper then began to roll the bingo cage. The sound of the balls hidden inside rattling against one another filled the air around them. Before long, the cage came to a stop, and one of the balls came rolling out. Sure enough, the ball that came out was solid gold.

"Well, look at that," Brian remarked, "It would seem like fate is on your side. You won the special mystery prize: two tickets and backstage passes to see Christoph live in concert as he wraps up his world tour."

Rosa's face lit up. "Shut up!" she exclaimed, "I am not going to see THE Christoph in person!"

"I take it you're a fan?" the shopkeeper asked.

"Of course!" Rosa answered, "I love his music! I've wanted to be able to see him live ever since I first heard him on the radio!"

"Well, today's your lucky day," Brian told her, "Because you and one of your friends are about to live that dream. Do you know who you're going to take with you? Perhaps a special someone very close to you?"

Rosa thought about it for a moment, and then said, "W-well, there is someone I think I would like to ask…"

"Well then," he began, "I would probably go tell them right away. Have fun at the concert, boss."

Rosa immediately ran off. Delta stayed behind as she watched the shopkeeper. There was something fishy going on here, and she was about to find out. She marched right up to the shop to get to the bottom of this. The shopkeeper was about to put away the cage when he saw Delta approaching the shop. He looked like he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have.

"S-sorry ma'am," he told Delta, "I'm just about to close up shop for just a moment."

This sent up more than a few red flags. Why would a shop need to close up in the middle of the day? And why would the shopkeeper need to hide the cage? There's nothing valuable about the cage itself. He was definitely hiding something, and Delta had a feeling that she knew what.

"Oh, is that so?" Delta asked, "Because I was so looking forward to trying my luck at the special promotion I heard about here."

The shopkeeper looked as if he were about to panic. He looked like a mouse looking into the eyes of a cat that was about to pounce.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," he answered, "We don't have any kind of promotion going on here."

He was about to pull the cage away, but Delta grabbed onto it.

"Is that so?" she asked, "Because I thought that I heard that if you drew a golden ball from this cage, then you would win a special prize."

"N-no," Brian stammered, "Th-there's nothing of the sort going on here."

He tried to pull the cage out of Delta's hands, but she held on tight. Once she felt that the shopkeeper was pulling hard enough, she let go of the cage. The shopkeeper fell over backwards and dropped the cage on the floor. The cage's door flew open and several golden balls rolled out onto the floor.

"Aha!" Delta exclaimed, "I knew something was up!"

She walked around the counter, knelt down and grabbed the shopkeeper by his shirt collar.

"Please!" he begged her, "I don't know anything! I was only doing what I was told!"

"Oh, really?" Delta began, "And who was it that told you to do that?"

"That would be me."

Delta turned to look at who just spoke. It was a tall, large man dressed similarly to Delta: a gray suit with a red tie. His jet-black hair was combed back over his head. He was looking at Delta like someone who was watching their evil plans unfold. Delta's grip slackened on the shopkeeper and he escaped her hold.

"Who are you?" she demanded as she stood up to face him.

"I go by many names," the man answered, "But you can call me Gemini."

"Is that supposed to be your name?" Delta asked him.

"It's more of a codename," Gemini admitted, "I prefer not to reveal my real name to anyone. It's much safer, given my line of work. I'm sure that you can relate to that… Delta."

Delta's defenses immediately went up. "How do you know about that?" she commanded.

"I know all about you, my friend," he told her, "I know about your job, your secret mission, and even your employer. I even know about the story behind that rose on your chest."

She put her hands over the flower, hiding it as if she were naked with it on.

"A tragic story, to be sure," Gemini continued, "But that's not why I'm here."

"Then why are you here?" Delta demanded, "What motivation could you possibly have for setting something like this up?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked, "I'm doing the exact same thing that you are: I'm trying to set Rosa up with the man of her dreams. You were looking for a way to get them together in a date-like setting, right? We're one and the same, you and I."

Delta said nothing. She continued to study Gemini, trying to get a read on him. Gemini pulled something out of his coat pocket and tossed it to Delta. She caught the object and looked at it. It was a ticket to some sort of an event.

"What's this?" she asked.

"It's a ticket," Gemini answered, "For the seat directly behind theirs at the concert. I'm giving you the opportunity to watch this foolproof plan of mine unfold.

"And why are you giving this to me?" Delta asked.

"I want your help," he told her, "You seem to have developed enough of a trust between those two, so I want you to be there to make sure that everything goes smoothly between them. In short, I'm asking you to be my partner in this mission. We're both after the same thing, so it should only make sense that we should work together. What do you say? Partners?"

Gemini extended his hand to her, offering a handshake to signify their partnership. Delta looked at his hand as if trying to decide if she could trust him. Hana, who had been watching this whole incident from the comfort of her lair, was just as suspicious.

"Qwerty," she began, "What kind of information can you find about this Gemini character?"

"I'm sorry Miss Hana," the computer told her, "But I can't find any kind of trace or record about this person. Whoever this Gemini person is, they have certainly done a good job of covering their tracks."

"Well," Hana mused, "He's certainly doing a good job as a secret agent, at least. I can't tell if this is a good or a bad thing."

"I can ascertain," Qwerty began, "That everything that Gemini has said to this point has been true. I sense no sign of hostility or malicious intent that would signify any ulterior motive."

Hana thought about this, took the microphone, and said to Delta, "Your choice. I'll let you decide if you want to trust him or not. You're usually a better judge of character than I am anyway."

Usually, yes. But now, Delta had no idea what to make of him. Trying to get a read on him was like trying to study a brick wall. She felt like the harder she tried to figure him out, the more Gemini was peering into her soul. Although she was feeling very uncomfortable about his knowing so much about her, she had to admit that he was good; certainly better than she was, at least. Delta had been training for years, yet for all her skill, she still couldn't hold a candle to Gemini.

"…All right," she said at last, "You win. You've got yourself a deal… partner."


	5. Chapter 5

"Okay," Rosa began, "Um, so I have two tickets to see Christoph in concert, and I was wondering… if maybe you might want to come with me? …Uh, but not as a date, of course! W-we're just friends, after all… Th-that is, to say, if you want it to be a real date, then I'm okay with it! O-only if you're okay with it… I-I mean, I'm not looking for us to be more than friends, if that's what you're thinking… B-but I don't NOT want it either… I mean, I… er, you… we… What do you say?"

"Espe?" her Espeon, Duchess, cocked its head.

Rosa sighed and sat down on the bed of her hotel room next to where the Sun Pokémon lay.

"Sorry," she apologized, "I'm just so nervous right now. I've never even been out on a date before, much less asked a guy out. I know that girls can make the first move now, but it's still customary for the guy to ask the girl out. I don't even know where to begin. To make things more complicated, we've been best friends for years. How do you even start a romantic relationship when you've been friends for so long? It's almost like going on a date with your brother."

She looked over at the blank stare that Duchess was giving her.

"I sound like a complete idiot, don't I?" she asked

The Sun Pokémon nodded. Rosa moaned and flopped back on the bed. She stared at the ceiling as if hoping it would tell her the answer.

"I just don't know what to do…" she whined.

Sensing its mistress' distress, Duchess got up, walked over to her and nudged her arm. Rosa looked at the concerned look on the Espeon's face and smiled. She scratched it behind the ears, which the Sun Pokémon seemed to enjoy.

"Maybe you're right," she told it, "Maybe I'm just stressing about this too much. I'm probably just over-thinking something that should be easy. I mean, this is Hugh we're talking about here. How unreasonable could he possibly be?"

Both Pokémon and trainer froze and turned to look each other in the eye as they thought back to how he had acted with Team Plasma.

"Well," Rosa began, "You know what I mean."

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Rosa sat bolt upright at the sound.

"That's him," she exclaimed, "All right, here goes nothing. Wish me luck!"

"Espeon!" Duchess replied.

The Sun Pokémon walked into the adjoining room while Rosa went to answer the door. She stopped for just a moment to fix her hair in the mirror before opening the door to reveal her childhood friend.

"Oh, hey Hugh," Rosa greeted him, "What brings you here?"

"You called me over here," he reminded her, "Said you had something important to talk about."

"Oh, right," she laughed nervously, "I guess I forgot, huh?"

Hugh leaned in to take a closer look at the brunette, causing her to blush just a little too much.

"Are you all right?" Hugh asked, "You seem to be acting weird."

"N-no…" Rosa insisted, "I-I'm fine, really."

He backed off, but he clearly didn't believe her.

_This isn't going well,_ she thought to herself, _Maybe I should just get right to the point._

"Um," she began, "Out of curiosity, what do you think about Christoph?"

"The pop singer?" Hugh asked, "I don't particularly care for him."

Rosa gulped. "You don't like him?"

"Well, I don't hate him," he admitted, "But I'm not crazy for his music either. Take him or leave him, I guess. Why do you ask?"

"Um, well," Rosa began, "Actually, I have two tickets and backstage passes to see him here in Nimbasa City tonight, and I was wondering if you'd like to come with me?"

"Seriously?" Hugh asked, "I thought that concert's been sold out for months."

"I know," she agreed, "So did I. I guess I just got lucky, didn't I? So… do you want to come with me?"

"Sure, why not?" he answered, "We're friends, right? I'm sure it'll be fun."

"Yeah," Rosa exclaimed, "I'm looking forward to it."

With that, Hugh's Xtranceiver began to ring. He checked the caller ID and cursed to himself.

"I got to take this," he told Rosa, "Do you mind?"

"Not at all," she answered, "I'll give you a little privacy too, if you'd like.

She stepped into the adjacent room to let Hugh answer the Xtranceiver. Duchess was waiting for her.

"It worked!" Rosa said to the Sun Pokémon, "He said yes! I can't believe it went so smoothly!"

Duchess just looked at her as if to ask if she was really that stupid.

"What?" she asked it, "What's with the look?"

That was when it hit her: Hugh had just friend-zoned her. She hadn't made it clear enough that she had meant this as a date, and now she was paying the price. Rosa knew that she had to fix this, fast. She hurried back into the main room, to find that Hugh was finished with his call, and was preparing to leave.

"Hey," he said when he saw her, "Listen, something came up, and I have to go real quick."

"Y-you're leaving?" Rosa asked.

"Yeah," Hugh answered, "It's pretty important. I guess I'll see you at the concert though!"

Before she could say anything else, Hugh ran out the door without another word. Rosa dropped to her knees. She wanted to scream. She wanted to just slap herself for being an idiot. She felt as if her one chance had just slipped away from her. Duchess walked up to her and placed its paw on her leg. Looking at the Sun Pokémon seemed to restore her hope. She smiled once again.

"Well," Rosa began as she stroked the Espeon, "Maybe it'll all work out in the end. I just have to stay positive."

As a matter of fact, it was not working out. No matter how much Rosa tried flirting with him, Hugh seemed to be completely oblivious of her. At first, she was willing to let it slide, but now, she was starting to lose her patience with him. The capper came when Delta, of all people, turned out to be sitting right behind them and Hugh had said outright that they were nothing but friends. Granted, it was Delta, and she was kind of harassing them, but it was still kind of a slap in the face Rosa really didn't need right now.

Finally, just as Rosa had about had enough, the concert was over. Part of her wanted to just go home and leave it at that, but she still had one more thing to take care of. She and Hugh still had those backstage passes, so they decided to use them after the show. They went to find the path that led backstage and showed the security guard the passes. He looked at the passes, and back at them.

"Ah yes," he told them, "Christoph has been waiting for you. Please come through."

He let the two of them in. Hugh looked at the guard confused, then turned to Rosa.

"He's been waiting for us?" he asked, "What does he mean by that?"

"I don't know," Rosa admitted, "Perhaps it's because I won the tickets and passes in a contest that he knows someone was coming to meet him?"

"Well," Hugh mused, "I suppose that's a logical enough explanation… Still, I'm not too sure about this Christoph guy."

"You always assume the worst about everyone," she told him, "Can't you at least give him half a chance?"

"Fine," he sighed, "But I still have a bad feeling about him."

They found their way to Christoph's dressing room. Rosa eagerly knocked on the door and waited. The door was quickly opened to reveal the pop idol standing there smiling at them.

"Welcome," he told them, "You must be the lucky winners of the contest. It's great to meet you."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you," Rosa answered as she shook his hand, "My name's Rosa. I'm a huge fan of yours. And this is Hugh."

"I see," Christoph said as he shook hands with Hugh, "And I take it that you must be her, uh…"

"Oh, no," Hugh told him, "It's nothing like that. We're just friends."

That was the last straw. Delta was one thing, but saying that to Christoph, who could do them no harm and whom they would likely never see again, that was too much for her. The least he could have done was say nothing, and she would have been fine with that. But to outright deny that they had any such kind of intimate relationship was about the last thing she wanted to hear. At this point, Rosa knew she had to get even with him. And she knew just how to do it.

"Yup," she said, "We're nothing more than just friends. Which means I'm still single and ready to mingle!"

Hugh looked at Rosa quizzically, but she refused to meet his eyes. She kept her gaze locked on Christoph, making sure her face was as flirtatious as possible. Christoph blushed and looked away from her.

"Well…" he started, "W-would you like to come inside?"

He led them into his dressing room. It was certainly what they would expect of a big star like him, nice and comfortable with all the luxuries befitting a king. It even had a separate room where he could change into his different outfits for the show.

"You know," Rosa began, "I have to say, you're a lot cuter in person.

This time, there was no question in Hugh's mind of what she was doing. He was not happy about it either. Rosa was aware that he was getting uncomfortable, which is exactly what she wanted. Figures that now is when he notices that she's flirting.

_Too bad,_ she thought, _He should have realized it sooner!_

"Um, thank you," Christoph blushed, "I really appreciate it."

"Aw, you're blushing!" Rosa gushed, "That's even cuter!"

She giggled when she saw how embarrassed Christoph was getting. She wasn't even lying to him; she did think that he was adorable, especially the way he was blushing because of her. The fact that Hugh was getting visibly more jealous with every remark was just the icing on the cake.

"So anyway," Rosa continued, pretending to ignore Hugh's burning glare, "I have to ask: do you have a girlfriend?"

"Uh," Christoph began, "Actually, I don't have one yet…"

"No?" she asked, "Why ever not? Any girl would be lucky to have such a handsome and successful man like you."

As she said this, she had placed her hand against his chest and had begun walking her fingers upward. When she had said "like you," she used her index finger to tap him on the nose. She giggled once more when Christoph smiled nervously at her. At this point, Hugh had had about all that he could take. He turned round and stormed out without another word, slamming the door shut in the process. Rosa had never really enjoyed seeing him this riled up before, but this time, she felt vindicated watching him squirm.

"Well, that ought to teach him," she smiled, "Sorry about putting you through all that."

"No, not a problem at all," Christoph said quickly, "Anytime, really."

Rosa laughed. "Naughty," she told him.

"Um, anyway," he began, "Would you like to have a seat?"

She sat down next to him on the loveseat near the center of the room. While she was here, there was something that she wanted to test.

"You know," Rosa started, "I have a feeling that I know you from somewhere."

Christoph gulped. "W-why do you say that?" he asked tentatively.

"I don't know," she answered, "I think it's because you remind me of someone I met some time ago. Maybe I should give him a call so he could meet you. I'm sure he'll freak!"

"Uh, I don't think that's a good idea," he told her.

"Why not?" Rosa asked with her Xtranceiver already in hand, "I'm sure he'd love to meet you. I can just picture the look on his face when I call him."

Before Christoph could protest, Rosa had already dialed the number. Sure enough, the second she entered the number, Christoph's Xtranceiver began to ring from his bag. Most anyone else would have found that incriminating evidence enough, but Rosa wanted to catch him in the act.

"Shouldn't you answer that?" she asked, playing dumb.

"Huh? Oh, right!" Christoph exclaimed, "Are you sure it's all right?"

"Of course," Rosa told him, "I'm sure you can finish quick enough to meet him. I'll try to stall for time."

"A-all right," he said, "If you say so."

Christoph ducked into the closet out of sight and out of earshot. Once he was out of the room, Rosa's own Xtranceiver was answered. Surprise, surprise, it was a voice-only call.

"H-hello?" the tentative voice answered.

"Hi Curtis!" Rosa beamed, "It's been too long!"

"Hey Rosa," Curtis responded, "Sorry this is voice-only. As a matter of fact, I can't talk for long."

"Oh, but you must listen to this," she insisted, "You'll never guess who I just met. I am sitting here with the teen idol Christoph in his dressing room!"

"You're kidding!" he gasped, "You actually managed to get backstage passes for his show?"

"I know!" Rosa agreed, "I can't believe it either!"

"I thought that show has been sold out for months," Curtis added, "You're so lucky, Rosa."

"That's why I love talking with you," she told him, "I can talk to you about anything. You're such a good friend."

The whole time Rosa was carrying on this conversation, she had snuck over to the room where Christoph was. Fortunately, he had not closed the door all the way. She opened the door just enough so that she could peek into it. Sure enough, everything that Curtis was saying was coming out of Christoph's mouth.

"Oh, come now," Christoph said, not noticing her watching him, "I'm not that great. But still, it's nice that you think of me like that."

Under normal circumstances, she would have busted him right then and there. But perhaps Rosa was still a little giddy from playing with Hugh's emotions, she decided that she wanted to mess with him too.

"Speaking of which," Rosa began, putting on her best sexy voice, "What are you wearing right now?"

She hid behind the door just as Christoph whipped around to look back towards her. She also made sure her own Xtranceiver was set to voice-only just in case.

"Um… Rosa?" Christoph asked, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she panted, "I'm just so hot right now. Now could you please take off your shirt and start rubbing that sexy body of yours?"

"I-I'm sorry…" he stammered, "I-I don't…"

"Why not?" Rosa asked, "I'm taking my shirt off now."

Christoph could not get his shirt off fast enough. He started rubbing his chest while grunting sexually into the Xtranceiver. Rosa was also moaning into her own Xtranceiver, but she was just watching Christoph in the other room.

"Okay," he panted, "Now tell me what you want me to do."

There was the million-dollar phrase Rosa was waiting for. She now had him eating out of the palm of her hands. Now, she had to figure out what she wanted to do to him. She thought for a moment to ponder the many possibilities. Then, she had a great idea.

"I want you," she began in the sexiest voice she could muster, "To cluck like a chicken."

There was a silence in the other room. Christoph was practically frozen in place as he tried to process what Rosa just said.

"…What?" he asked.

"It drives me crazy," Rosa insisted.

Christoph hesitated for a moment, then quietly let out a tentative cluck. Rosa let out a soft moan in response. He tried clucking a little louder, and she moaned a little more each time. And what started out as a small cluck soon turned into a full-blown chicken impersonation, complete with movements and everything. It was taking all of Rosa's willpower to not laugh. She just kept moaning sexually into the Xtranceiver to keep egging him on.

This went on for about a minute until during his chicken impression, Christoph turned around, saw Rosa standing in the doorway, and, in mid cluck, screamed like a girl. Rosa just couldn't hold it in anymore; she almost fell over laughing.

"Gotcha!" she exclaimed, "You little faker!"

"…You knew all along, didn't you?" Christoph asked.

"Duh!" Rosa answered, "I'm not an idiot! I figured it out ages ago."

He went and rejoined Rosa in the main room and sat down next to her on the couch.

"How long have you known?" he asked her.

"Well, let's see," Rosa recapped, "The first time we met, you nearly jumped out of your skin when I said hello, so that tipped me off that something was wrong. You let slip several hints over the course of the next few weeks, so it wasn't hart to put the pieces together. Oh, and then there was the time when you _answered the Xtranceiver as Christoph_! Did you think I wouldn't notice that by chance?"

Christoph looked away. "Sorry," he apologized, "I guess I should have given you a little more credit than that."

Rosa then put her hand on his. "It's okay," she told him, "I understand why you did it. You're a big star, so of course you can't just go around anywhere like that."

"Really?" Christoph asked, "You're not mad at me?"

"Of course not," she assured him, "If I were you and in your position… I'd have said something by now. Who's kidding who?"

"Gee, thanks," he said sarcastically, "That makes me feel better."

"But seriously," Rosa insisted, "I would have still met me in disguise like you did at least. That much, I understand, so I'm not mad at you or anything."

Christoph smiled at her. "You really mean that?"

"Yes," she assured him, "You're my friend, and I trust you. Whether you're Christoph or Curtis, that fact hasn't changed."

"Thank you," he told her, "I'm really lucky to have you in my life, aren't I?"

The two held each other's hand as they sat there, stroking the backs of the other's hands with their thumbs. While this was going on, Delta and Gemini were spying on them from outside, looking through binoculars into the window of Christoph's dressing room. Delta was not enjoying what she was seeing.

"This isn't going well," she said, "If this keeps up, she'll end up falling in love with the wrong man. I knew this concert was a bad idea."

"What are you talking about?" Gemini asked, "This is all going smoothly according to my master plan."

"This by you is 'according to plan'?" Delta questioned, "In what world is this bringing her closer to Hugh?"

"Don't you see?" he insisted, "The way that Rosa is acting around Christoph is nothing more than a façade. She's only acting this way to toy with Hugh's emotions."

"Okay," she assented, "But still, what does that have anything to do with getting them together?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Gemini continued, "She's trying to make him jealous. It's a well-known fact that boys never really want a toy until another boy wants to play with it. Before long, the jealousy will become too much for Hugh, and he will have to make a move."

"How can you be so sure of that?" Delta asked him.

"If you don't believe me," he began, "Here comes proof now."

Delta looked, and sure enough, Hugh was now coming along the outside wall. He then climbed up just high enough so that he could see into the window where Christoph and Rosa were.

"You see?" Gemini said to her, "You've known him long enough to know that he will only take so much before he does something about it."

"Well, you've got a point there," Delta muttered, "What do you think Hana?"

"It's perfect!" Hana said over her earpiece, "Brother's always been very possessive, so he's bound to do something sooner or later. There's no way this won't work!"

"About that, Miss Hana," Qwerty interrupted, "My computations are actually showing that this plan has an astounding 86.76% chance of critical failure if things proceed as they are now."

"You and your numbers!" Hana exclaimed, "I should have named you 'Murphy' instead of 'Qwerty'! Trust me, nothing will go wrong."

"I'm sorry, Miss Hana," the AI insisted, "But I must strongly advise against this. If this plan goes through, the chances are too great of them not only failing to become a couple, but also destroy their relationship as it is now."

"Shut up!" she yelled, "What do you know? It was your fault that our last plan failed in the first place!"

It most certainly was _not_ Qwerty's fault, but the AI knew better than to argue with the girl who had full access to its power cord.

"I'm giving you the green light," she told Delta, "Go through with this plan just the way it is."


	6. Chapter 6

Hugh wasn't answering his Xtranceiver. Rosa had a feeling that she took it too far last night. She wanted to apologize, but she couldn't get ahold of him. Oh well, she knew that she had to do this in person anyway, and she knew where to look. Even before they had their Pokémon, Hugh would always go somewhere to fight something. Whether it was a punching bag or some poor soul, he would vent his anger on some external source. When they started their journey, he translated this way of releasing his anger into Pokémon battles. And there's no better place in Nimbasa City than the Battle Subway.

Rosa made her way to the underground subway station in the center of town. She knew she had to hurry if she wanted to catch him before he left. As she ran down the steps to the Battle Subway, her foot hit a wet spot and slipped. She fell down and closed her eyes before her head could hit the concrete stairs. But before she landed, someone had caught her and was holding her. She opened her eyes to see just the man she was looking for holding her in his arms.

"I swear," Hugh told her, "What would you do without me?"

"H-Hugh…" Rosa blushed, "Um, thank you."

He helped her back onto her feet. The two of them held onto each other for a few moments longer, silently gazing into the other's eyes. Hesitantly, their faces inched closer to each other. Then, reality suddenly caught up to them and they separated quickly, taking a profound interest in the ground. They couldn't see it because they couldn't look each other in the eye, but they were both bright red.

"S-so," Hugh began, "What brings you over here?"

"Oh, that's right!" she exclaimed, "I've been looking for you."

"For me?" he asked, "What for?"

"I want to apologize," she answered, "About last night, I mean. I went too far with Christoph, and I shouldn't have done that to you."

"You don't have to apologize for that," Hugh told her, "It's not like I was jealous or anything."

"Hugh," Rosa began, "You stormed out of the room. You're not fooling anybody."

He sighed. "All right," he gave in, "But why did you do it anyway?"

"I don't know," she admitted, "I guess I was just kind of mad, both at you and myself, and I just took it out on you. I shouldn't have done that."

"Why were you mad at me?" Hugh asked, "I didn't do anything last night."

"My point exactly."

Before Hugh could ask what she meant by that, Rosa quickly changed the subject. She kept talking to distract both him as well as herself from the topic of the concert. Before long, the two were laughing and joking around with each other just like old times, the events of last night becoming a distant memory. They must have spent over an hour together, wishing that this moment could last forever. But of course, reality was not so kind, and Rosa's Xtranceiver started to ring, bringing both of them back down to earth.

"I have to get this," Rosa said, "May I be excused?"

"Of course," Hugh told her, "It's no problem."

Rosa left Hugh alone to answer her Xtranceiver. She saw the image of Christoph, disguised as Curtis, appear on the screen.

"Hey Rosa," he told her, "I'm glad I caught you. Listen, can I talk to you for a minute? In person?"

"Um, sure," she began, "But what's this about?"

"I can't say right now," Christoph answered, "But it's pretty important. Can we meet up at our usual spot? I'm waiting there right now."

Rosa looked back at Hugh. She really didn't want to hurt him again. But then again, If Christoph needed her, she didn't want to let him down either.

"All right," Rosa told Christoph, "But just for a little while. I can't stay long."

"Great," he said, "I'll see you over here."

She hung up the Xtranceiver. Putting her things away, she went back to where Hugh was to tell him where she was going.

"Hey," she began, "Listen, I actually have to go right now, but I promise I'll be right back."

"O-okay," Hugh responded, "But who was that anyway?"

"That was Curtis," Rosa explained, "Remember, that guy I met when he dropped his Xtranceiver?"

"Oh right," he said, "What did he want?"

"I'm not sure," she admitted, "He said he had something important to talk about and he wanted to see me in person."

Seeing that Hugh was about to protest, Rosa quickly added, "Don't worry; I promise I won't flirt with him."

Hugh sighed. "Right," he said, "Sorry about that. Well, you don't want to keep him waiting, do you?"

"Yeah," Rosa agreed, "I'd better get going. I'll call you later!"

Rosa made her way to the Nimbasa City amusement park. It seemed exceptionally crowded today, even more so than it usually is. She wondered why that was until she noticed that almost everyone there was a couple. That's when it hit her: tomorrow was Valentine's Day. The amusement park was holding their annual Valentine's Day weekend to celebrate the holiday. Rosa had completely forgotten about it; she had never had cause to think much about the holiday before. Maybe she should take Hugh here with her tomorrow.

She fought her way through the crowd until she reached the Rondez-View Ferris Wheel. Unlike usual, there was a long line to get on the ride. Since the ride picks up couples as it turns ever so slowly, the line was moving. Still, it seemed strange to see such a long wait for a ride that was usually so easy to get on. Rosa looked around to try to find Christoph amongst the many faces of the crowd. Eventually, she spotted him as he was scanning the crowd for her. When he spotted her, he smiled and waved her over. Rosa hurried to meet him.

"Hi Curtis," she called, "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Hey," he began, "Um, you know that's not really my name, right?"

"I know that," Rosa said under her breath, "But does everybody else need to know that as well?"

"Uh, right. Sorry," Christoph apologized, "Anyway, thanks for coming on such short notice."

"No problem," she told him, "So what did you want to talk about?"

"Well," he began, "I'd rather not talk about it out here. Do you want to take a ride on the Ferris wheel so we can talk?"

"O-okay," Rosa answered, "Whatever you say."

He took her to the end of the line for the ride. Luckily, the line was moving pretty quickly, so they didn't have to wait that long. When they got on the ride, they were finally alone. Rosa was feeling very nervous about this. She had done this with Christoph many times before, but now, it seemed… awkward to be alone with him. Was it because of the atmosphere of the park today? Or were the events from last night continuing to haunt her?

"So, um," she began, "What's this about?"

"Oh right," Christoph exclaimed, "Well, the thing is, I'm supposed to be flying out to the Sinnoh region to film a big movie tonight."

"Really?" Rosa asked, "That's so cool!"

"Yeah, I guess it is," he agreed, "But the problem is that the person who was supposed to be co-starring with me can't make it."

"They can't?" she started, "How come?"

"Well apparently," he explained, "She got into a bit of a car wreck and she's in the hospital right now."

"Oh no," Rosa exclaimed "Is she going to be all right?"

"She'll be fine," Christoph assured her, "But now, we don't have anyone to play the female lead."

"What about the understudy?" she asked, "Don't films like this hire understudies specifically in case of something like this?"

"Her understudy quit a long time ago," he told her, "Apparently, she thought that there wasn't going to be a chance of anything like this happening, go figure."

"Oh no," Rosa repeated, "So who are you going to get to replace her?"

"Actually," Christoph began, "I was kind of wondering if you'd like to take her place."

Rosa nearly jumped out of her seat. "Me?" she asked, "But why me?"

"It's okay," he assured her, "I've seen your work at Pokéstar Studios so I know you're a great actress."

She blushed. "You've seen my movies?"

"Of course," Christoph answered, "You really are wonderful. But more importantly, I'd like to do this with someone I know personally than with just some actress."

"I-I don't know what to say," Rosa told him, "This is all so sudden, and so last-minute."

"Take your time," he said, "If you don't want to do it, then that's all right."

Take her time? Her mind was going a million miles a minute just processing this. She was just an ordinary girl, and yet, now she had the opportunity to be a real big-ticket movie star. Part of her was excited, for sure. But another part was scared too, and another was worried about what Hugh would say. Yet another part was trying to look for the hidden camera to see if she was on some sort of celebrity version of Punk'd.

"O-okay!" Rosa laughed, "Sure, I guess I can give it a shot."

"Really?" Curtis asked, "That's great! Thank you for this. I know this is kind of last minute."

"It's okay," she told him, "Anything for a friend."

At that point, the Ferris wheel had come full circle and it was time for them to get off. They stepped off the ride and went back to the spot where they met up.

"Speaking of friends," Christoph continued, "Can I ask one more favor from you?"

"Sure," Rosa told him, "What is it?"

"You see," he began, "I'd like you not to tell anyone about this, if you know what I mean. I don't want anyone to worry about you too much."

"Not even Hugh?" she asked.

"Preferably not," Christoph answered, "Is that a problem?"

"It's just…" Rosa began, "We've known each other for years, and we've never kept secrets from each other. We were always able to talk to each other about anything and everything that was on our minds. I almost fell like I'm betraying him."

"I understand," he told her, "But I think telling him might make him think you're trying to get away from him. He might not be that understanding about it."

"No, not Hugh," she insisted, "He wouldn't be like that. Besides, we'll be back before long, right?"

"Well," Christoph started, "We're actually going to be gone for three months."

Her heart sank. Three months without seeing her best friend? What had she just gotten herself into? But she had to go through with it; she had already given her word. Still, could she really go that long without seeing him again?

"So will you do it?" Christoph asked again, "Will you promise to keep this a secret for now?"

"…O…Okay," Rosa answered tentatively, "I promise I won't tell anyone."

"Hello?" Hugh answered his Xtranceiver five minutes later.

"I'm going to be starring in a big movie!" Rosa blurted out.

Hugh just stared at the image of his best friend looking more embarrassed than she ever had before in her life.

"Seriously?" he asked, "You called to blurt something like that out?"

"Well actually," she began, "The original plan was to beat around the bush while I thought of a way to bring it up casually, but then I panicked and it just slipped out."

"Well hey," Hugh started, "That's great news! Sounds like it'll be a lot of fun."

"Yeah," Rosa said half-heartedly.

"You don't sound too jazzed about it," he observed, "What's the matter?"

"Well, you see," she began, "I'm going to be gone for three months to do this shoot."

"Three months?" Hugh asked, "When are you supposed to leave?"

"…Tonight," Rosa answered timidly, "My plane is supposed to leave in three hours."

"Tonight?!"

"Sorry!" she apologized, "This was kind of sprung on me at the last minute. I didn't want you to worry, so I had to tell you."

"'Didn't want me to worry'?!" Hugh started, "Why didn't you tell me sooner instead of waiting until the last minute?"

Rosa was about to explain that she just found out about this now, until she remembered that Hugh had no idea about Christoph's real identity. If she told him about how it really happened, who knows how he would react.

"I'm sorry," she apologized again, "You're right, I should have told you about this last night."

Hugh realized just how upset she was right now. It was clear that, because he didn't want her to go, she didn't want to go. He knew that this was a big opportunity for her, and he didn't want her to pass it up because of him. He forced himself to swallow his emotions and calm down for her sake.

"It's okay," he told her, "I shouldn't have overreacted like that. I should be the one apologizing."

"But you have every right to overreact," Rosa responded, "I should have said something sooner."

"Don't worry about that," Hugh insisted, "This is a great opportunity for you. You should take advantage of it. And I'm sure that I'll be able to find time to come and visit you sometime."

"Well actually," she began, "We're kind of… going to the Sinnoh region to do the filming."

Hugh let out a sharp intake of breath. He had no idea it was going to be that far. Still, he had to hide his own feelings to let Rosa follow her dreams.

"Sorry," Rosa apologized once more, "But I promise I'll call you every day, even if it's just to say hi."

"It's all right," Hugh assured her, "You don't have to worry about me. I just want you to be able to do what you want to do."

"Really?" she asked.

"Go," he insisted, "Have a blast. And when you get back home, you can tell me all about it then."

"You're great, you know that?" Rosa told him, "You're the best friend I could ever ask for."

"Well, I am kind of awesome," Hugh joked, "Now get out of here. You don't want to miss your flight, do you?"

"Right," she agreed, "I guess I'll see you…"

She stopped herself. She sure wasn't going to see him again anytime "soon".

"…When you get back?" Hugh finished.

Rosa looked like she was about to cry, but whether it was from joy or sadness, she couldn't tell.

"Yeah," she agreed, her voice cracking just a little, "I'll see you then."

She hung up before Hugh could see her tears. As soon as her image was gone from his Xtranceiver, the smile on Hugh's face faded. He sighed as he had just said goodbye to the one person he cared about more than anything in the world. Still, he knew he had to let her go. He picked up his Xtranceiver one more time and dialed another number.

"Hello, Ménage à Deux?" he said into the device, "Yes, I'm calling to cancel my dinner reservations for two tomorrow at 9:00. …The name's Hugh Marigold. …Yes, that's the one. …Uh-huh. …Yeah. …Yes, I know I've already invested a lot of money into this night. …Yes. …I'm aware of the fact that I've been planning this for almost a month now. …Right. …Keep it up, and I'll tell you exactly where you can shove every last member of that strings quartet."

He shut off the device. He wanted to just throw it as hard as he could; he wanted to hit something so hard that his knuckles bled. Instead, he forced himself to try to keep his cool and put the Xtranceiver away.

"Damn," he cursed under his breath, "So much for trying to surprise her."


	7. Chapter 7

"This isn't good," Delta said to herself, "This is not good at all."

She paced the floor of her hotel room nervously, wracking her mind to find a solution. Gemini sat on the edge of the bed just watching her.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, "It's going perfectly. Everything's going according to plan."

"Perfectly?!" Delta demanded, "The whole point of this was to get Hugh and Rosa together, and now look what happened! I knew I shouldn't have trusted you when you brought Christoph into the picture."

"I told you," Gemini explained, "Christoph is going to make Hugh jealous enough so that he'll be pressured into making his move sooner. Never underestimate the power that jealousy has on a relationship."

"But now," she insisted, "Rosa's going to be left alone with Christoph for a whopping three months. Hugh had been removed from the equation entirely."

"Exactly," he told her as he stood up, "Which is why our next move is to reintroduce Hugh into the equation. Now that they've spent some time away from each other, they'll realize that they need each other more than they knew."

Delta had no response for that one. It sounded like a good plan, but why was she so apprehensive about it? She knew why: it was because she still didn't fully trust Gemini yet. Everything he's said and done has been correct, so why didn't she trust him?

"You can trust me on this," Gemini continued, placing his hands on her shoulders, "Once we tell Hugh where Rosa is, he won't be able to stay away."

She felt her heart skip a beat when he touched her. Her face grew hot as she felt his strong hands caressing her shoulders. What was this feeling she was experiencing? And why hadn't she felt it before? Could she actually be…? She clutched the rose on her breast tightly at the thought.

_No,_ she thought to herself, _I can't let myself get caught up in that again! Not after last time._

Rosa couldn't sleep. She never was the kind to sleep well on an airplane, but this time, it was as if her mind didn't want to sleep. She just stared out the window watching as the sky went from orange to black, to orange again, to blue, and finally to orange once more. Her mind was consumed with thoughts of Hugh. Was he all right? Did she make the right decision in going to star in this movie and leave him behind? She was already regretting her decision to go.

"Are you okay Rosa?"

She turned to look at Christoph, who was looking at her with a concerned look on his face.

"Oh," she said, "Sorry, I just didn't sleep well last night. I had a little trouble getting comfortable."

"We're in first class," Christoph reminded her, "It doesn't get much more comfortable than this."

"I know," Rosa told him, "But I've never been that big on sleeping while sitting upright next to a jet engine."

"Are you sure you're all right?" he asked, "You really don't seem like yourself."

Rosa sighed. "You're right," she answered, "I'm sorry. It's just that… this isn't exactly how I imagined spending Valentine's Day."

"I'm sorry," Christoph apologized, "I know this was kind of last-minute. Did you have any plans for today?"

"Well," Rosa began, "Not per se, but I was kind of hoping to do something special."

"I see," he said, "Well sorry if this isn't as special as you were hoping, but I decided to set something up just to say thank you."

With that, a flight attendant came by with a cart carrying a romantic candlelit dinner for two. She set the trays down in front of them.

"Sorry I couldn't get that special someone for you," Christoph added, "So I guess I'll just have to do."

"You did this for me?" Rosa asked, "That's so sweet of you. Thank you."

Christoph blushed. Rosa couldn't help but smile. He went through all this trouble just for her. Her heart started to beat just a little faster. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to go on this trip after all.

Hugh didn't want to get out of bed that morning. Getting up required strength and desire, neither of which he had today. He knew that today was going to suck; Valentine's Day all by himself, everywhere a constant reminder that he was alone. He always wondered why they put Valentine's Day in February, the most depressing month of the year, where they could remind people that they were all alone. The only people he could think of who would want that would be cemeteries and pharmacies specializing in anti-depressants.

_Pull yourself together,_ he thought to himself, _Pouting isn't going to help you. You can't let Rosa see you like this._

He forced himself to get out of bed and get dressed. He stopped when he got to the door though. He would have much rather hit himself in the family jewels than go outside right now, but he knew better. Forcing himself out of the door, Hugh left the room and went straight for the front desk to check out. One thing was for certain; he had to get out of the city for today. Maybe he would go walk to Driftveil City. Surely the Pokémon World Tournament wouldn't be focused on Valentine's Day.

As he finished checking out of the hotel, a familiar voice called out from behind him.

"Hi Hugh!" Delta greeted, "Good to see you again."

"Oh, what are you doing here?" Hugh snapped, "The sun is up. Shouldn't you be asleep in a coffin somewhere?"

Delta ignored the comment and continued. "So it's Valentine's Day today," she told him, "Are you taking Rosa out anywhere special?"

Hugh tensed. He knew it was coming. Barely out the door, and he's already having to put up with all the garbage that was surely to come.

"She's not here," Hugh answered bluntly, "She left last night because she had something to do."

"Oh that's right," Delta began, "I'm sorry, I forgot that she left to go film that movie."

Hugh nearly shot to the ceiling. "You know about that?" he asked, "How did you find out?"

"Oh, a little birdy told me," she answered, "But more importantly, why didn't you go with her?"

"It… It's not my place," he answered, "This is something that she has to do on her own."

"I suppose that's understandable," Delta told him, "But surely you at least know where she is, right?"

Hugh froze. That's when he realized he _didn't_ know where Rosa was. Could she have forgotten to tell him? Did she not know herself? Or perhaps she didn't want him to know.

"Well," Delta continued, seeing the look on Hugh's face, "From what I can tell, it seems like she doesn't want you there. Perhaps she might be cheating on you."

"First of all," Hugh began, "How could she possibly be cheating on me if we aren't even dating to begin with? And second of all, I'm the one who pushed her into going alone in the first place. She didn't want to go on account of me, but I wasn't going to let her pass up an opportunity like that."

"Is that so?" she asked, "In that case, it must be killing her to be there without you there. If you're as close as you seem, she must be terribly lonely right now."

"So what if she is?" he replied, "There's nothing I can do about it now."

Delta was about to answer when a voice called out from behind her.

"There you are honey," Gemini said, "I've been looking all over for you."

Delta was surprised to hear his voice. She didn't expect him to come in. And he was calling her "honey"? Still, she knew she had to play along to avoid losing her cover.

"Sweetie," she answered, "I told you we were supposed to meet up here. Did you forget again?"

"Ah yes," Gemini responded, "Now I remember. I guess I must have spaced on that one. So who's your friend here?"

"This is Hugh," Delta introduced, "His girlfriend left him last night to go star in a movie."

"She's not my girlfriend," Hugh added irritably.

Delta was about to pull the same mind trick she used on Rosa days before, but before she could, Gemini began to address Hugh.

"A movie?" he began, "Last night? Ah yes, I think I know the one you're talking about."

Hugh stared at him. "You do?" he asked.

"Of course," Gemini answered, "As it just so happens, a good friend of mine is actually directing the very movie that your friend is starring in. So are you going to visit her there sometime?"

"Well," Hugh started, "Actually, I don't know exactly where they are. Plus, I'm kind of trying to stay away from her to let her focus on the movie."

"Ah, I understand," he responded, "Then I probably shouldn't mention that I know the entire itinerary of where they're going – Oh dear, I've said too much."

Hugh was about to ask more, but he caught himself. He couldn't let himself give in to temptation.

"You know what?" he said, "I don't care. It doesn't concern me in the slightest."

"Good," Gemini continued, "Because I just couldn't possibly tell you that their first stop is in Canalave City at the harbor – Oops. I hate myself."

"Come on dear," Delta told him, "Let's go before you mention that there's a flight for Hearthome City with a connection to Canalave leaving in an hour and a half."

Delta and Gemini then headed out, leaving Hugh alone. He started to leave the hotel himself. So she was in Canalave City, was she? Now that he knew where she was, he could…

_No!_ he thought, _I can't let myself think like that! I don't care. I'm not going. I don't care. I don't care._

"Can I help you?" asked the ticket girl at the Nimbasa International Airport.

"Yes," Hugh answered, "I need to catch the next flight to Canalave City as soon as possible.


	8. Chapter 8

What the hell was he doing here? Hugh contemplated that as he stepped out of the airport into the bright sunlight of Canalave City. He had heard that the weather in Sinnoh was great this time of year, but he never expected this. The air was crisp and cool from the sea breeze, the water shimmered in the sun, and there wasn't a cloud in sight. It was a beautiful day today.

And yet, for all its beauty, Hugh was filled with trepidation and self-loathing just for being here. The whole point of sending Rosa off on her own was so that she could follow her dreams without him being there to hold her back. He couldn't allow himself to get involved in what she was doing here. So what was he doing here in the first place? He cursed himself for not being able to stay away. He wanted to go back, but his return ticket wasn't valid for another three months. Yet another reason he hated himself right now.

"Well," he said to himself, "There's no turning back now. Might as well see how she's doing before I go."

Hugh reached into his bag and took out the Poké Ball containing his Flygon. He tossed the ball into the air, releasing the Mystic Pokémon from the device. Flygon did a few midair flips, enjoying the new sea breeze.

"Glad to see you're having fun," Hugh told the Pokémon, "But I need your help. I want to check on Rosa to see how she's doing, but I don't want her to know I'm here. So I need you to fly me up high enough so that I can see her but she can't see me."

"Fly?" Flygon look at its master quizzically.

"Just trust me," he assured it, "I just want to make sure she's all right, and then I'll back off for the next three months while she does her shoot."

The Mystic Pokémon gave him a look as if to say, "Yeah, right", before landing to let its master on its back. Hugh climbed onto his Pokémon, slightly annoyed at its attitude. Flygon then took off into the air, climbing high into the sky. Hugh scanned the ground looking for Rosa, wondering if his Pokémon knew something he didn't know.

Rosa was shaking right now. It wasn't because she was wearing a light dress in the chill wind; she actually liked the weather. Nor was it because she was afraid she would forget her lines; she had the script memorized so well that she could recite them perfectly without any thought. But it was because of the scene that they had to shoot today that she was so nervous. She knew that many scenes in a movie were shot out of order and context, but why did they have to start with _this_ one?

As Rosa tried to calm her nerves, Christoph came up to her wearing jeans, a trench coat and a fedora, just as the script required.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, "You look kind of nervous."

"Oh no, I'm not nervous," Rosa lied, "It's just a little chilly out, is all."

"I see," he responded, "Well, there's no need to worry. This thing happens all the time, so I'm sure you'll do fine."

"Yeah," she agreed, "I just hope I can remember my lines."

Christoph smiled at her. "You'll do great," he told her, "I know you can do this."

Before Rosa could say anything, the director called out to the cast and crew.

"All right people," he yelled, "Places! Let's get this scene done right the first time!"

"That's our cue," Christoph said, "Are you ready?"

"Of course," Rosa lied again, "Let's do it!"

Christoph took his place by the edge of the harbor while Rosa remained off-screen. He turned to look outward towards the sea, waiting for the director to start filming.

"Cue cameras," the director called, "And ACTION!"

Christoph stared out at the open waters, looking as depressed as he could. Rosa counted to ten in her head like she was told and then stepped up to his character. Christoph turned to look at her.

"Congratulations," Rosa said, "You've finally proven your father was right."

"But at what cost?" Christoph asked returning his gaze to the sea, "What good is it to show everyone that my father was telling the truth if he's not around to enjoy it?"

Rosa sighed and wrapped her arms around his left arm.

"I know it's hard," she told him, "But your father gave his life so that you could live yours. Don't let his death be in vain."

It was at this point that Rosa stopped listening to the dialogue between herself and Christoph. Her mind was racing as she tried to prepare herself for what was about to come. She knew the script inside and out, and what was coming up next was what scared her; she and Christoph had to kiss. She should have known this was coming; what movie doesn't have the two lead characters kiss at the end? Still, she wasn't sure if she was ready for – Was that her cue? She had better say her next line.

"But you have won," Rosa said, "You're a hero Lawrence. If it weren't for you and your father, the Skraneds would have wiped out all of humanity."

Was she ready for something like this? She had never kissed a boy before. Was this really how she wanted to have her first kiss? And with Christoph? Of course she liked him, and she liked being with him. But is he really who she wanted to be with for her first time? And then, of course – Wait, there was her cue again. The next line was hers.

"Don't say that!" Rosa pleaded, "It's only because of you that we were able to get out of it all okay! You've done so much for all of us that we couldn't bear to be without you. We need you Lawrence. …I need you."

What about Hugh? She felt like she would be betraying him if she went through with this. Sure they weren't really an item, but she felt closer to him than she'd ever been with anyone else. She felt like there was a special connection between them. Wouldn't it be unfaithful of her to be kissing Christoph when Hugh was so dear to her? Still, he had never said anything to her before. Perhaps it might be – Rosa felt Christoph's arms around her. That was her cue for the next line.

"It's all because of you," she said, "You helped make me into who I am today."

This was it, the moment of truth. It was time for her and Christoph to kiss. On the outside, she looked in character, but on the inside, she was sweating bullets. Forget butterflies, Rosa had a hornet's nest in her stomach right now. She tried to calm her nerves, but her mind wouldn't listen. All she could think about was how Hugh would react if he saw them. No, she had to forget about him right now. If only for today, all that mattered was Christoph.

Slowly, their lips came closer and closer as she and Christoph were about to kiss. When their lips finally met, all of Rosa's nerves faded away, though her heart continued to beat furiously. It had felt so good, even better than she was expecting. For the first time since she got there, she didn't even think about Hugh. All that she was aware of right now was Christoph's soft lips up against hers.

Just then, a large splash came from the water below, snapping Rosa back to reality. She instantly jumped back from surprise at the sound. Christoph looked equally surprised. Something must have happened since that wasn't part of the script.

"CUT!" the director yelled, "CUT, CUT, CUT, CUT, CUT! What the hell was that splash?!"

A confused look over the rest of the crew told him that nobody else knew either.

"All right," the director calmed down, "Let's take five, and then we'll take it from the top."

Rosa was about to go off on her own to take a breather when she looked up and saw a rider-less Flygon flying off towards Route 218.

You learn something new every day. Today, Hugh learned that he could swim underwater for a really long time. Of course, the nine pounds of seawater in his lungs probably helped with that. He crawled onto the beach of Route 218 coughing and sputtering water from every orifice. His Flygon perched itself on a nearby tree, laughing hysterically at its master. Hugh glared up at his Pokémon as he expelled the last of the water from inside his body.

"Yeah, that's right," he growled as he wrung his clothes dry, "Laugh it up ham hock! I come all this way to Sinnoh to see how Rosa's doing, and what do I get? A lung full of seawater and a Flygon laughing in my face."

He stared at the Mystic Pokémon, watching it until it finally calmed down.

"Are you done?" Hugh asked.

Flygon nodded, though its breath was still a little heavy.

"Good," he told it, "Now let's get out of here. I've had about enough for one day."

"Hugh? Is that you?"

Hugh whirled around and saw Rosa was standing behind him. He almost tripped when he saw her.

"R-Rosa!" he stammered, "Ho-how did you…?"

"I saw your Flygon heading this direction," Rosa admitted, "But what are you doing here? I thought you stayed behind in Unova."

Hugh wanted to lie and say he came down for vacation or something, just so she wouldn't find out that he couldn't stay away from her. But he knew better; he and Rosa knew each other long enough for her to see through him when he lied. The only option he had was to just come clean.

"All right," he began, "You want to know the reason why I came here? I just couldn't stand the thought of being away from you for so long that I came all the way out here just to see you. I tried to stay away, but I couldn't."

Rosa gasped a little when she heard that. Hugh looked away, unable to look her in the eyes, feeling like the biggest idiot on the planet. Soon, a smile appeared on Rosa's face.

"You came all the way here for me?" she asked, "That is so sweet. Thank you so much."

She threw her arms around Hugh and kissed him on the cheek. Hugh's face turned a brilliant shade of red afterwards. Rosa's cheeks looked flushed as well.

"Um…" Hugh began, "Wh-what was that for?"

"Just because," Rosa answered, "Thank you for being here Hugh. You have no idea how much this means to me."

There was so much that each of them wanted to say to the other, yet neither could find the words to express it. They both just stood there for a few awkward moments. Finally, it was Rosa who broke the silence.

"I… I have to get back to the shoot," she told Hugh, "But I definitely want to see you again afterwards. I'll call you once I'm done."

"Uh, sure," he answered, "I'll see you then."

Rosa ran back towards the city. Hugh watched her as her figure disappeared from his view. His Flygon came out of the tree and landed next to its master.

"What just happened?" Hugh asked it.

The Mystic Pokémon elbowed him in the ribs as if to say, "You lucky dog, you". Hugh turned red again at what his Pokémon was implying.

"Sh-shut up!" he told it as he returned the dragon into its Poké Ball.

From within the bushes, Delta and Gemini had watched the whole exchange between the two of them. Delta was amazed at what she saw.

"I don't believe it," she began, "This is actually working. I thought for sure that something would have gone wrong."

"I told you this would work," Gemini told her, "This sort of thing is my forte. I specialize in bringing people together like this. The best part is that it's only a matter of time before my master plan is complete."

Delta couldn't argue with that. Results don't lie, and these were clearly results. Perhaps her first impressions about Gemini were wrong after all. He seemed to be a very reliable partner, and he's proven to be a veritable genius. As much as she didn't like to admit it, Gemini was on a whole other level than her.

Just then, Delta felt Gemini's arm placed around her. Her face grew hot and her heartbeat quickened, yet she didn't make a move to remove his arm from her shoulder. So many thoughts were swirling in her mind, not the least of them being the flower on her breast, which felt like it was boring into her flesh. She found herself in the middle of a war between what her heart said and what her memories had told her. How could she possibly make two people fall in love if she might be falling herself?


	9. Chapter 9

For the next three months, Rosa pushed herself as hard as she could. By day, she was working on the movie, pouring her soul into every line she delivered. But when night fell, she would sneak away from the set so that she could spend all the time she could with Hugh. And by the next morning, she snuck back to the film before anyone knew she was gone. She didn't regret what she was doing; all she wanted to do was be with Hugh.

During their filming, Rosa and the rest of the cast and crew traveled all over the Sinnoh region, going from Canalave to Jubilife, Jubilife to Hearthome, then to Solaceon, Pastoria, and even Veilstone. Finally, after ending up in Snowpoint City, filming for the movie was finally done, even a few days ahead of schedule. However, it wasn't until her work was done that Rosa realized just how tired she was. Three months of virtually no sleep had really taken its toll on the young brunette. Now that she didn't have to worry about looking her best for the movie, Rosa was finding it hard to stay awake.

Still, despite how tired she really was, Rosa still continued to hide it however she could. She was alone with Hugh in his hotel room celebrating the completion of the movie, and she didn't want to miss a second of her time with him. It was bad enough that he had a later flight back to Unova than she did, so she wanted to enjoy all the time she could with him now.

"Congratulations Rosa," Hugh told her, "All your hard work has finally paid off. I knew you'd be able to do it."

"Yeah," she answered half-heartedly, "Although I couldn't have done it without you here with me to cheer me on."

Rosa prayed that Hugh wouldn't have noticed her lack of energy in responding, but to no avail.

"Are you okay?" he asked, "You seem kind of down today. Definitely not your usual cheerful self."

"I-I'm fine!" she said somewhat defensively, "There's nothing wrong with me. See?"

She smiled at him to show that she was still her usual self, but Hugh wasn't buying it. He leaned in to take a closer look at Rosa's face. She felt her heart racing as he got closer to her. She was finding it increasingly difficult to maintain her mask as he looked deep into her eyes.

"I knew it!" Hugh exclaimed, "Your eyes are bloodshot. You haven't been getting any sleep, have you?"

"Yes I have!" Rosa protested, but she knew it was pointless; she was already caught.

"It's my fault, isn't it?" he continued, "It's all because I came here to distract you that you got in this mess. If only I had been able to stay away…"

"No, please don't think that way," she told him, "I was the one who wanted you here with me. I was the one who wanted to be with you. It's nobody's fault but my own."

"Even still," Hugh insisted, "There's no getting around the fact that I caused this. I can't keep doing this to you, so I have to make this right now. You need to get some rest, so it's probably best for you to leave."

Rosa stood up. "No please," she begged, "Let me stay here with you just a little longer. I promise I'll be fine by tomorrow, really!"

"I'm sorry," he answered, "But I've caused enough trouble for you already. I can't stand seeing you like this knowing that I'm responsible. You need to go to bed now; your flight leaves in the morning, and you've never been able to sleep on an airplane."

"No!" she protested, "I don't wanna go to bed! I want to be here with you!"

"Rosa, just listen to yourself," Hugh told her, "You're acting like a child. You and I both know that you desperately need some sleep, so why are we arguing?"

Rosa couldn't argue with that; she knew he was right. She'd hardly gotten any sleep these past three months, so she was running on empty right now. Leave it to Hugh to give her carefully reasoned logic when she needed it the most. Still…

"Okay fine," she sighed, "I'll go to sleep now, but on one condition."

"What's that?" Hugh asked.

"I want you to sleep with me."

A jolt of electricity ran down Hugh's spine. Realizing what she just said, Rosa quickly corrected herself.

"Not like that," she clarified, "But I… I want to be near you. When I thought that I wasn't going to see you for three months, I've never felt so alone before in my life. I realized that I can't really live without you. I mean… does that sound weird?"

Once the initial shock of Rosa's request had died down, Hugh managed to relax somewhat.

"N-no," he answered, "There's nothing weird about it. I… I've actually been feeling the same way."

Rosa smiled. "Well then," she began, "In that case…"

She gestured towards the bed, and Hugh nodded in acknowledgement. He went to turn off the main lights and climbed into bed with Rosa. Once they were both under the covers, they wrapped their arms around each other.

"You do remember," Hugh started, "The last time we slept together like this, right?"

But Rosa was already asleep. The second her head hit the pillow, the exhaustion had finally caught up to her, and she fell asleep almost instantly. Hugh couldn't help but smile to himself as he turned out the bedside lamp. He caressed her hair gently as she slept in his arms. Subconsciously, Rosa held onto her friend just a little tighter.

"Sleep well, Rosa," Hugh whispered.

The next day, Rosa was humming to herself for the first time in months. She was so joyously – almost euphorically – happy after what she and Hugh had said to each other last night. She kept replaying the events of last night over and over again in her head, imagining all of the different ways it could have ended. The thought that they might have done something… else last night remained in the back of her mind. Unlike last time, however, she wasn't really worried about it. In fact, the thought of them becoming intimate had actually intrigued, and even excited, her this time around. She soon found herself fantasizing over what it would have been like if they had done it.

Lost within the realms of her mind, the fourteen-hour flight back to Nimbasa City seemed to pass by in no time. Once the plane had landed and the doors opened up, Rosa raced out to the lobby. She had memorized what Hugh's return trip was going to be like. Unlike her, he couldn't get a direct flight back to Unova. He had to take the 256 flight out to Hearthome International, then take a connecting flight on the trans-continental flight 452 back to Nimbasa. If all went well, he would be home by the next morning. Rosa wanted to make sure everything was all right. She hurried out of the terminal to check the message board listing all incoming flights. She scanned the board looking for flight 452.

Her heart sank. Not only was flight 452 cancelled, but so were all flights coming out of Hearthome International due to a bomb threat. There would be no way that Hugh would be able to make it back any time soon. Immediately, she felt deflated when she realized that.

"Is everything okay Rosa?"

Rosa jumped. She whirled around to see Christoph, disguised as Curtis, standing right behind her.

"Jeez," she panted, "Don't sneak up on me like that! You startled me!"

"Sorry," Christoph apologized, "I was just kind of worried about you, is all. You seemed to be acting kind of strange."

It was at this point that Rosa thought about what her previous elation must have looked like to him. He knew nothing about Hugh's coming to see her during the movie, so he had no idea why she was so excited to get off the plane. She pulled herself together quickly before he could suspect anything.

"I'm sorry," she told him, "I guess I was just so tired of being stuck on a plane that I wanted to come out and stretch my legs. I'm all better now."

"That's good," Christoph said, "Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you again for coming out to do this film with me."

"Please," Rosa began, "You've thanked me enough already. It was my pleasure to do this with you, Curtis."

"No, I mean it," he insisted, "You've been so helpful to us during filming, you delivered your lines perfectly, and you've always been in such a good mood. I mean it when I say I've never worked with anyone as great as you before."

"Stop!" she squealed, "You're making me blush!"

"Still," Christoph continued, "You've been such a big help that I want to ask one more favor of you."

"What is it?" Rosa inquired.

"Will you let me walk you back to your hotel room?" he asked.

Rosa hesitated for just a moment. Part of her wanted to wait right here for Hugh to finally get back, but she knew it was pointless. She didn't even know what flight he would be taking back to Unova, much less when he would get back. Even worse, she knew that whenever he traveled, he always packed his Xtranceiver in his luggage, so she couldn't even call him. All she could do was to pray that he'd be back safe and sound before too much longer.

"Sure," she answered, "You can walk me back."

The two of them left the airport and headed down the streets of Nimbasa City towards the hotel. They spent the time talking with each other, mostly about the humorous things that happened during the filming, both off camera and on. Eventually, they got back to the hotel where Rosa would be staying. Once they were almost to her hotel room, Christoph then brought up another subject.

"You know," he began, "I've been meaning to ask: does your friend still want to kill me for kissing you back there?"

Rosa looked shocked. "You knew about that?" she asked, "How did you find out about him?"

"Back when we first did the kiss scene," he explained, "I reviewed the video footage from that take and saw him drop out of the sky into the water. I figured he must have seen what we were doing."

"You saw that, did you?" Rosa sighed, "I'd almost forgotten about the footage. Well, I guess the secret's out now. He was a little upset about it, but he calmed down when I explained that it was just a stage kiss."

"Well," Christoph began, "It wasn't just a stage kiss for me."

Rosa let out a small gasp. Her heart rate quickened and her face turned pink. Christoph continued.

"I…" he started, "I don't know if I'm stepping out of bounds or anything, but… could I ask you one more thing? Will you please go out with me tomorrow night?"

She didn't know what to say. Her heart seemed to be conflicted. On the one hand, she wanted to be with Hugh, and she felt obligated to remain loyal to him. But on the other, she knew that there still wasn't anything linking her to him, and she wanted to be with Christoph also. Rosa felt herself being torn between the two.

"Um…" she began, "Could… Could you give me some time to think about it? I think I need to sort a few things out."

"Of course," he told her, "Take all the time you need. When you're ready, just let me know, whatever it is."

The two of them stood in awkward silence for what seemed to be an eternity, neither knowing what to say. Eventually, Christoph broke the silence.

"I-I should probably get going now," he said, "Just call me whenever you feel ready to give me an answer."

"Yeah," Rosa agreed, "I'll… I'll do that."

Christoph headed down the hall back towards the elevators, leaving Rosa more confused than she's ever been before in her life.


	10. Chapter 10

Every instinct, every synapse in her brain, every last fiber of her very being was screaming at her that something was wrong. Something had gone awry in their master plan. Yet for some reason, Delta wasn't too concerned with what was going on. She was definitely worried about it, for sure. But somehow, she felt that Gemini must have some sort of answer to this problem. He just had to.

Still, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't suppress her emotions. While she forced herself to maintain her mask on the outside, her stress levels were going through the roof. She knew that she couldn't keep holding herself in like this. Gemini noticed that something seemed to be wrong with her. Delta knew it would only be a matter of time before he figured out exactly what she was worried about, so she decided to just come out with it.

"…So…" she began, "…What are we going to do next? What's our next plan of attack?"

"Us?" Gemini answered, "Oh, we're not going to do anything."

Delta felt like she just had a small stroke, but she tried to internalize it.

"…Nothing?" she asked, trying to keep her voice level, "You're joking, right?"

"I'm afraid not," he sighed, "Without Hugh here, there isn't much we can do until he gets back. All we can do now is wait."

That was when Delta finally snapped. "You expect us to WAIT?!" she demanded, "How could you let this happen? Was this all because of your oh-so-brilliant master plan? I knew I shouldn't have gone along with this convoluted scheme!"

"Delta, relax," Gemini told her, "This was an event that was just out of our control. Fortunately, I had foreseen even this possibility. Trust me, I have everything planned out. It will all work out in the end."

"…Really?" Delta asked, calming down a little.

"Of course," he said as he put his arms gently around her, "You just leave everything up to me. I promise I will set things straight."

Hearing the comfort in his voice, Delta was finally able to relax. She rested her head against his chest as he stroked her hair gently.

"…But I-" she started.

"Shhh," Gemini shushed, "It's all right. I'll handle everything. You just trust me to take care of it."

Trust? How could she trust him when she couldn't even trust herself? As she stood there embraced in his arms, she lost all sense of what was going on around her. She had lost all touch with her senses and instincts. This was a potentially fatal error for someone in her line of work, but was even more frightening for her. It was terrifying for her because the sensation she felt coming from the rose on her breast that had kept her in check for so long was no longer there.

Delta wasn't the only one worried about what was happening. Hana was lost deep in thought trying to figure out how things were going to play out. Her Liepard was curled up, asleep in her lap.

"Qwerty," she said at last, "Has there been any progress in the situation at Hearthome International?"

"Unfortunately," the AI answered, "While the threat was confirmed to be false, flights out of Hearthome International – including flight 452 – are still heavily delayed. Furthermore, upon reviewing the security tapes in their computer's system, I have seen that Hugh had left the airport a while ago. Without knowing where his next destination would be, there's no telling when he could be back."

"Well great," Hana grumbled, "Now what are we supposed to do?"

"If I may," Qwerty began, "It's not too late to abort this plan. We can still give the command for Delta to interfere with this date so that we can start over with a clean slate."

"There is nothing wrong with the plan," she growled, "We are seeing this plan all the way through."

"I'm sorry Miss Hana," it insisted, "But the sequence of events that has already played out before us is following the exact pattern that I had foreseen as the absolute worst-case scenario. I can only assume that critical failure is imminent at this point. If we act now-"

"Okay, I've had enough out of you!" Hana interrupted.

Liepard jumped out of its mistress' lap and ran for cover at her sudden outburst. Hana was now standing on top of her chair, glaring at her computer with murder in her eyes.

"The plan is fine!" she yelled, "We've just run into a snag; all great plans have them! Everything up until this point has been nothing but great! Now shut up about wanting to go back on this, or I'll be forced to use Code NM!"

If computer programs could sweat, then Qwerty would be sweating bullets right now.

"Miss Hana," the AI began, "You don't mean…?"

Of course she didn't. Code NM stood for "New Mauville"; it meant total computer shutdown. If Hana were to use that action, then all data and programs connected to her base of operations – including Qwerty – would be irreversibly lost. She couldn't do that to her closest friend and partner. Still, she had reached her breaking point. She had to at least make her threat sound valid.

"If you continue to push me," she answered, "Then I won't hesitate to do so."

Several tense moments passed as Hana prayed that Qwerty would believe her. She didn't want to have to follow through with her threat, but she also wanted it to have the desired effect on the AI. Finally, Qwerty just sighed.

"As you wish, Miss Hana," it told her.

Hana breathed a sigh of relief. She sank back into her chair.

"Well then," she began, "Back to the matter at hand. So you're absolutely certain that Brother had left Hearthome International?"

"That is correct," Qwerty explained, "However, without either a known destination or a way to contact him, being able to track his movements would be impossible."

"I suppose that's true," Hana conceded, "But I think that we can take a guess at where he might have gone. Brother's never been one to let something like this go. Qwerty, what other international airports are there in the Sinnoh region besides Hearthome?"

"There are two such airports," the computer reported, "One in Jubilife, and on in Veilstone."

"We'll start there," she commanded, "Search the records of both airports starting from the time that Brother left Hearthome International to see if he had purchased a ticket at either one."

"Very well," Qwerty replied, "But it could take some time. Please wait here while I go check."

"Do it," Hana told it.

Qwerty then attached itself to an e-mail and sent it off to the first of the airports, allowing it to hack into their system. Hana relaxed in her chair as she waited for Qwerty to return with the results. Liepard walked up to its mistress tentatively, afraid that she might snap again. Hana reached over and pet the Cruel Pokémon.

"It's going to work," she told her Pokémon, "It just has to work."

Out of everyone, Rosa seemed to be the one who was the most stressed of all. She had officially gone into panic mode. She paced the floor of her hotel room hurriedly, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Duchess was watching its mistress pacing back and forth with keen interest.

"What am I going to do?" she asked, "What am I going to do? What am I going to do? What am I going to do? I don't know what to do. What should I do? What am I supposed to do?"

Duchess opened its mouth to speak, but Rosa kept talking.

"I always thought that Curtis liked me," she began, "But I had no idea he liked me like that! I always thought we were just friends. But now that I think about it, we have been getting a lot closer than we were before. Ever since I found out his secret, we've been able to do so much more together. Like with the movie… Oh my Arceus, the movie! Why didn't I notice it before? We were always together during the whole film. I didn't see it then, but looking back, we were acting a little differently than we did before. Didn't you notice it too?"

The Sun Pokémon tried again to say something, but Rosa continued before it could speak.

"Who am I kidding?" she asked, "Anyone could have seen what was coming. Anyone but me, of course. How could I have been so blind? But I… I guess it's not really a bad thing. I mean we do kind of work well together. And he is kind of good-looking… Okay, a lot good-looking. I'm sure that there's about a million girls who would kill to be in my place. I know that he really likes me, and I… I think I like him back. What do you think?"

Again the Espeon tried to answer her, and again it was interrupted.

"Oh, what am I saying?" Rosa exclaimed, "I can't do that to Hugh; he's been with me since the beginning! I've had a feeling that something has changed between us lately ever since that last time we were both back home. But even before then, he's always been there for me, looking out for me, sharing my joy when I was happy, and consoling me when I was sad. I think my relationship with him is a lot deeper than just a simple crush, right?"

Duchess tried once more to help soothe its mistress' worries, but Rosa continued on once more.

"No, no," she told herself, "I can't let myself forget that we're still not officially a couple or anything. That last night with him was magical, but I still don't know if it's had any sort of impact on our existing relationship. Maybe that's why I was so anxious to see when he was coming back; I wanted to see where we would go next. But I can't be certain of anything until he gets back. But I don't even know when that will be! Why did it have to be a bomb threat? But until he gets back and says otherwise, we're still not exclusive with each other, right?"

The Sun Pokémon tried one more time to answer the question, but was interrupted yet again.

"Aargh!" Rosa moaned, "I just don't know what I'm supposed to do! Do I go with the new crush who I know wants to go steady? Or should I stay loyal to my best friend who may or may not have feelings for me? I don't know what to do! What do you think?"

This time, Duchess remained quiet; it was anticipating Rosa to continue talking.

"SAY SOMETHING!"

The Espeon gave a frightened cry and hid behind the bed. Rosa let out a shaky sigh before collapsing onto the bed. She was so stressed about making her decision that she was almost in tears.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, "It's just that all this stress is getting to me, and I just took it out on you. I shouldn't have done that. I'm just terrified of making the wrong decision. I wish I knew what I should do."

Hearing its mistress lamenting about her predicament, Duchess jumped back onto the bed, walked over to her, and began rubbing her cheek with its own. Rosa looked over at the Sun Pokémon. Unlike last time, she felt no solace from the Pokémon.

"Thanks for worrying about me," she told it, "But I think I need to figure things out on my own."

Rosa recalled her Espeon back into its Poké Ball. She then stared up at the ceiling, as if looking for some answer hidden in the drywall. No matter how she looked at it, an easy decision could not be made. Logic, fairness, desire; all ways of basing her choice failed to reveal the best judgment for her. And to make matters worse, she was now out of time. She had to make her decision now. She reached into her bag to pull out her Xtranceiver. Not wanting Curtis to see that she had been stressing about this for so long, she set the call to "voice only" and waited. He picked up almost immediately.

"Hey Rosa," he answered, "I'm glad to hear from you again."

"Me too," Rosa agreed, "Um, I just wanted to call to let you know that I've made my decision."

"Oh, you have?" Curtis asked, "That's good. Well… what was your answer?"

Rosa did one last coin-flip in her head before answering.

"I've decided," she began, "Yes, I will go out with you tonight."


	11. Chapter 11

Unfortunately, simply making the decision to go on the date with Curtis did not alleviate Rosa's worries. She had agreed to go out with him, but she still wasn't sure if she was willing to make the commitment to him. Part of her still wanted to keep her options open should Hugh come back and want to become exclusive with her. That was what she really wanted, but she also knew it might not actually happen that way. It may have been that he didn't really see her that way and that she would be wasting her time.

But still, as long as the possibility still existed, she would still remain hopeful. And until she knew for sure, she had no idea where she should lead her relationship with Curtis. She didn't know what kind of impression she wanted to give on this date. She went through about twenty-seven different outfits trying to figure out what to wear. This one was too revealing. This one didn't compliment her features enough. This one was telling too much more than she wanted to say, and this one too little. Too little? How could she know what was too much or too little of what she wanted to say if she didn't even know what that was?

Eventually, she just gave up trying to figure out what kind of message she wanted her look to give. She soon settled on a fairly simplistic outfit that was conservative enough to promise nothing more than the first date, while formal enough to show that she was making an effort.

"Just keep it simple," she reminded herself, "Don't want anyone to get their hopes up – either one of us."

She then turned her attention to her hair. Figuring that her usual buns would be a little too casual for a date, she began to undo them, combing them out to their full length. Her hair had become a little wavy after being held in a bun for so long. It's been so long since she's worn her hair at full length that she'd forgotten just how long and soft it really was. She remembered that Hugh once told her that she looked prettier with her hair down, but she didn't think much of it. Of course, that was back when they were kids, so of course she would have known he meant anything by it. She wondered if he still felt the same way now.

Her makeup was very minimalistic: some lip gloss and a light blush. She didn't want to go over-the-top like a lot of women do. Not that she really wears a whole lot of makeup anyway; she always thought that makeup should always look as natural as possible. She didn't even have an opinion on that until Hugh pointed that out to her years ago. As for jewelry, she didn't want to wear too much of that either. The one thing that she did wear – the one thing she couldn't bring herself not to – was a small heart-shaped anklet that Hugh had given her for her last birthday. He had taken jewelry-making lessons for weeks just to make that for her. It was far from perfect, but Rosa had worn it every day since then. It had always had a special place in her heart because Hugh had worked so hard to make it just for her.

Rosa physically slapped herself. She was getting way too carried away thinking about Hugh. If she kept this up, it would surely ruin things between her and Curtis. She had to forget about Hugh right now, if only for tonight. She looked in the mirror at herself, trying to push all thoughts of her best friend out of her mind. But no matter how hard she tried, the sight of her reflection reminded her of how she was betraying him.

"I'm sorry Hugh," she said aloud, "Please come back soon for me."

Hugh breathed the sweet smell of the Nimbasa City night air. He almost dropped to the ground and kissed the earth beneath his feet. Finally, he had made it back to Unova, after going all over hell's creation trying to get here. He kept wondering what kind of an idiot threatens to bomb the terminal of an airport. If anything, the lobby would have made more sense for a terrorist attack; more people. Thank Arceus that he had already visited Veilstone City during the filming so he could take a flight out from there. He had no idea why they wouldn't let him take the direct flight to Nimbasa City that would have been much quicker; he had to take another flight with stops in the Sevii Islands, the Oblivia region, and even the Orre region. Still, he was back home at last.

"I hope I never have to go through that again," he said to himself, "But at least it's finally over. Now, I just have to find Rosa so that I can finally say what I've been meaning to talk to her about."

Before he could begin his search, however, he was approached by Gemini, who was looking at him warmly.

"There you are," he exclaimed, "I've been looking all over for you. I had a feeling that you were back in town somewhere."

Hugh looked confused. "Have we met before?" he asked, "You look kind of familiar."

"Oh, I'm wounded!" Gemini dramatized, "Certainly, you must remember me. My name's Gemini. We met when my lovely fiancée introduced me to you three months ago."

"Oh yeah," Hugh answered coldly, "Now I remember."

"Yes," Gemini continued, "She told me that your girlfriend was starring in a movie, so I didn't tell you how to get there to go see her."

"How many times do I have to tell you people?" he began, "She's not my girlfriend!"

"She's not?" he asked, "Oh good then. In that case, this wouldn't interest you at all."

With that, Gemini started to leave, but Hugh's attention was caught.

"Wait a minute," he told him, "What do you mean, 'This wouldn't interest me'? What are you talking about?"

Gemini smiled evilly to himself before turning around and answering.

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly," he answered, "Whatever happened was strictly between Rosa and Curtis, and I couldn't bear to do anything to change that."

"Curtis?" Hugh asked, "You mean that guy she's been talking with over the Xtranceiver lately? What does he have anything to do with this? I thought she hasn't talked to him once since she went to make that movie."

"You still haven't figured it out?" Gemini remarked, "She's been seeing him every day during the filming. In fact, he was co-starring the movie right along with her."

"What are you saying?" he began, "Christoph was the one who was starring in the movie with her."

"My Arceus," he sighed, "You really are dense, aren't you?"

Hugh bit back his anger at that comment. Gemini leaned in and whispered into Hugh's ear.

"Curtis," he began, "Is Christoph, and Christoph is Curtis."

Having Gemini spell it out for him, Hugh was able to put the pieces together.

"Wait a second," he said, "Are you trying to say that she's been seeing him behind my back this whole time?"

"Sadly, yes," Gemini answered, "And it would seem that they are about to take their relationship to the next level."

"The next level?" Hugh asked, "You don't mean…?"

It was too much for him. Hugh took a step back as the possibilities of what might happen ran through his mind.

"I…" he started, "I don't believe you. You've got to be lying. Rosa would never do anything like that without talking to me first."

"Why would I lie to you?" Gemini asked, "If you don't believe me, you can go see for yourself. I just saw them on a date heading into Il Amorato, and may I say that Rosa looked positively smitten with the man. I daresay she was practically head-over-heels for him."

After he said that, Gemini left him. Many different emotions swirled around in Hugh's mind, all of which just continued to make him more and more confused. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't. Still, now that Gemini placed that thought in his mind, he couldn't stop thinking about it. As much as he didn't want to see it, he had to know for himself that Rosa wasn't as he said she was.

"Great," Hugh said to himself, "So much for trying to relax now that I'm home."

Rosa knew that she wasn't making a good impression on this date as she buried her face in the menu. Try as she might, she could not banish Hugh from her thoughts as long as she was with Curtis. As such, she was having a hard time participating in this date. And the more her thoughts lingered on what Hugh would say if he saw her, the more she thought that it was a mistake to go on this date in the first place. But she had already made the commitment to be here, so she had to make good of her word.

"Is everything all right Rosa?" Curtis asked, "You seem kind of out of it tonight."

"Wha?" she said returning to Earth, "Oh, sorry. There's just so many choices here that I can't make up my mind."

"Oh really?" he began, "Well, that's okay then. For a while, I was afraid that you weren't having fun on this date."

"No, that's not it at all," Rosa lied, "I just can't decide what I want. I'm torn between the shrimp scampi and the pasta primavera."

"Is that so?" Curtis asked, "In that case, I'd recommend the shrimp scampi. It has a rich, delicate flavor that would go great for your taste."

"I know," she began, "But I've never really tried it before. I'm not sure if I want to jump into something different just yet. Besides, pasta primavera has always been good to me, and I've kind of been craving it lately."

"Well, whatever you choose," he told her, "I'm sure it will be delicious."

Just then, the waiter showed up at their table.

"Are you folks ready to order?" he asked.

"Um," Rosa began, "I think I need a few more minutes to decide."

"Oh, I see," the waiter said snidely, "You're going to be another one of _those_, are you?"

With that, the waiter left. Rosa watched him go with disgust.

"Okay, that was rude," she said, "Where's the manager? We need to say something about this."

"Calm down Rosa," Curtis told her, "This isn't the first time this has happened. I've learned a little trick that can fix people like him without causing a big scene."

Rosa looked at him quizzically. "How?" she asked.

"We can transform his behavior," he answered, "Through the use of positive reinforcement. Just watch what I do and follow my lead."

Soon after that, the waiter returned with two glasses of water.

"Here's your water," he told them, "If you need anything else, let me know."

"Why, thank you very much sir!" Curtis responded in an overly cheerful way.

The waiter left again.

"Did you see that?" Curtis asked Rosa while the waiter was still within earshot, "I've never seen such exceptional service before."

Upon hearing that, the waiter stopped to listen in on them. Rosa saw what she had to do.

"I know," she added, "He's the best waiter I've ever had before in my life. I mean, the way he brought us the water was just incredible."

The waiter had his back to them, but they could see in his body language that he was liking what he was hearing."

"And handsome too," Curtis continued, "I say that he should be a model instead of a waiter."

"Tell me about it," Rosa agreed, "Did you see his hair? I tell you, if I wasn't already on a date with you, I might have kissed him right away."

They looked over and saw their waiter running his fingers through his hair. Rosa had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing out loud when she saw that. She saw that Curtis was also trying to contain himself. Soon, the waiter returned with a plate.

"I thought I might bring you some hot appetizers," he told them, "Compliments of the kitchen."

"Well, that's very kind of you, sir," Curtis said, "Isn't it Rosa?"

"Very," Rosa answered, more to Curtis than the waiter, "You're an amazing person."

"So," the waiter began, "Are we ready to order?"

Curtis looked at Rosa as if asking if she was ready. Rosa had a feeling that she knew what she wanted.

"I think so," she answered, "I'm feeling adventurous tonight. I think I'll try the shrimp scampi."

For the first time that night, she did not think of Hugh. For now, she was with Curtis, so she was going to focus on him.

After almost getting kicked out by the hostess after trying to sneak in, they finally let Hugh into the restaurant. He couldn't help but think that if it hadn't been a weekday, he might never have gotten in in time. As it was, when he spotted Rosa and Curtis, they were already almost finished with their meal. Fortunately, he was seated at a table behind Rosa, so she didn't see him. He quickly hid his face behind the menu so he could watch them.

There were two things that Hugh noticed right off the bat. First of all, they were clearly on a date. No amount of convincing could tell him otherwise. The way they looked and the way they acted around each other told him everything he needed to know. The second thing he noticed, which was the one that really bothered him, was that Rosa seemed to be enjoying it. She looked like she was having more fun with Curtis than she ever had with him. For some reason, Hugh couldn't help but feel a little angry about it. He had no idea why; he had always wanted the best for Rosa. No, the truth was that he knew why, but he didn't want to admit it.

As he was trying to exert control over his emotions, the waiter had come up to him.

"Good evening sir," he told him, "Are you ready to order?"

Hugh buried his face in the menu. "Ahem, actually," he began under his breath, "I'm not quite ready yet. Could you give me a few more minutes?"

"Oh, I see," the waiter began, "You're going to be another one of _those_ customers, are you?"

If Hugh wasn't so concerned about hiding from Rosa, he would have punched him right then and there. Instead, he just sat quietly, hiding his face as the waiter left. Rosa had watched the whole exchange without recognizing her friend behind the menu. She turned back to Curtis.

"Did you see that?" she asked him, "The waiter just did the same thing to that guy that he tried to do to us."

"All right," Curtis began, "Here's what we do now. We've already gotten our food, so there's nothing left for him to spit in. We'll do the same thing we did before, but with _negative_ reinforcement instead. That way, he'll have learned a few things about guest service."

Soon, the waiter came back to their table.

"And how are my two favorite customers doing?" he asked, "Can I get you anything else?"

"Just the check please," Curtis answered.

"Of course sir," the waiter told him, "I'll get that for you right away."

Curtis waited until the waiter had left the table, but was still within earshot.

"Jackass," he muttered.

The waiter froze when he heard that.

"I just can't believe," Curtis continued, "That they would let someone like that wait tables."

"Ugh," Rosa began, "Don't even get me started on him. I've never seen anyone who cares so little about the customer before in my life!"

When the waiter returned, he slapped the check down on the table and walked away without another word. This time, they couldn't contain their laughter. They were having so much fun at the waiter's expense that they just couldn't hold it in anymore. Hugh was watching this from his own table. With every passing second, he could feel the rage building up inside of him.

"I almost feel sorry for the poor guy," Rosa commented.

She and Curtis were walking back to her hotel room as their date came to an end. Neither one wanted the date to end, so they were trying to relive it during the whole walk back. They kept talking about the waiter and how they treated the poor man.

"I know," Curtis added, "But he did kind of deserve it."

"He sure did," Rosa agreed, "Maybe next time, he'll think twice before being rude to one of his customers."

All too soon, the two of them arrived at the front door of Rosa's hotel room.

"Well, here we are," Curtis told her, "Thank you for being with me tonight, Rosa. I wish this night didn't have to end."

"Me too," she began, "I'm really glad I went out with you."

Curtis hesitated for a moment before leaning in to kiss her. Rosa kissed him back, relishing in the sweet taste of his lips. It felt just like the first time they kissed during the film shoot, only now, she could feel the emotion behind it. She had missed that the last time on account of…

Damn! She had almost forgotten about Hugh. Immediately, the enjoyment she had gotten from the date was gone, and in its place was the crippling guilt of betraying her best friend. This was a mistake. She should have never gone on this date in the first place. She knew that she had to make things right. When the two of them separated, Curtis smiled at her.

"I love you Rosa," he told her.

Rosa let out a small gasp. She was left speechless, unable to form a response to that. Curtis saw this, and knew that he should do something.

"I…" he began, "I should probably go. I'll talk to you soon."

Still unable to speak, Rosa could only nod in agreement. She then ducked into her room and leaned against the door. She slid down to the floor as Curtis' words still echoed in her head. This was wrong. This was so seriously wrong. How could she have let something like this happen? How could she do this to Hugh?

…And yet, despite feeling like she was a horrible traitor, she felt that her face had subconsciously formed into a smile.

"He loves me…" she said to herself.


End file.
